International

After an intense risk on environment in its previous session, the US dollar traded within a tight range to kick start the week on Monday. The dollar index struggled quite a bit for direction yesterday, as the market continued to digest prospects of policy tapering from the Fed’s address last week. The dollar could also be waiting for a few key events later this week, to get some sense of direction. The dollar index consolidated to close the session weaker at 92.653.

Following a somewhat lazy start to the week, the single currency barely moved yesterday, struggling to stay above $1.1800 on the day. Although the euro ended the session flat, it still maintained some strengthening bias, on the back of a broadly weaker dollar. The single currency consolidated to end the session flat at $1.1798.

Pound sterling was also stuck in a tight range on Monday,  with COVID-19 and Brexit concerns weighing on the cable, amongst other things. The British pound ended the session flat at $1.3756.

ZAR

The South African rand continued to edge lower on Monday, strengthening for a 7th consecutive session on the day. The  local unit, along with other riskier assets rode the wave of increased appetite for risk in global markets. The rand broke a R14.6000/$ handle, to trade at a two week low of R14.5874, before closing the session at R14.6622/$.

Today we have trade balance data, which previously printed at 57.68 billion, and is now expected to come out at 45 billion, according to the Reuters Poll. Internationally, we have an array of data across the EU, Germany and the US. The local unit is most likely to continue tracking global trends and other market moving events.

Expected ranges for the day:

• USDZAR: R14.5000/$ to 14.7000/$
• EURUSD: $1.1810 to $1.1910
• GBPUSD: $1.3760 to $1.3830