International

A sedated end to the week for the strong-willed dollar, it was seen giving up some of its gains from the previous session. This is attributable to the disappointing non-farm payroll figures released on Friday, coming in way below market expectation at +194,000 as opposed to +500,000, despite the improvement in the unemployment rate. The dollar index closed the week at 94.067 after reaching a low of 93.939.

The euro did not waste a good opportunity, it edged slightly higher thriving on the dollar’s misfortune, following disappointing non-farm payrolls in the U.S that saw renewed interest on riskier assets, become a thing again. The euro closed the session at $1.1573.

The sterling tested a fresh high of $1.3661 for the week in Friday’s session, on the back of a broadly weaker dollar, following disappointing US economic data release on the day. Although, it failed to keep up with the upward trajectory to end the week almost flat at $1.3620.

ZAR

The South African rand had a good start to the day on Friday, although it was seen unwinding some of its earlier gains, with risk appetite shifting ahead of the US non-farm payrolls data release. The data which came below market expectations, missing the mark by -306k and was also expected to shed some light on the Fed’s timing with regards to tapering. The rand then narrowly traded firmer towards the end of the session, to close at R14.9532/$ after reaching a low of R14.7805/$ and a high of R15.0023/$.

Today we are empty on the local data cards, and internationally we only have industrial output data release from Italy. The local unit will most likely continue to follow global trends and other market moving events.

Expected ranges for the day:

• USDZAR: R 14.9000/$ – R15.1500/$
• EURUSD: $ 1.1550 – 1.1590
• GBPUSD: $ 1.3620 – 1.3680

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