The Rand has weakened against major currencies following the release of Section 89 (Phala Phala) panel report which stated that President Cyril Ramaphosa may have committed serious violations and breached anti-corruption laws. In Wednesday’s trading session in the local markets, the Top 40 closed the day up 2.62% and the Resources 10 sector went up by 2.89%, the Financial 15 went up by 1.73%, the Industrial 25 went up by 2.75% and lastly, the South African Listed Property index was up 0.04%. The rand traded at R16.97 against the Dollar, R20.26 against the Pound, and R17.50 against the Euro.
Figure 1: USD/ZAR Intraday Chart (Source: ThinkPortal Web)
On the commodities front, Brent Crude oil is trading at $86.80 a barrel and WTI Crude oil is trading at $80.50 a barrel. Gold is currently trading at $1775.31. Platinum is now trading at $1035.20 and lastly, Palladium is at $1899.50.
Across the globe, the S&P 500 closed the day up 3.09%, the Dow Jones closed the day up 2.18% and the Nasdaq had a 4.58% climb. The FTSE 100 was up 0.81%, the DAX was up 0.29% and the CAC40 was up 1.04 %. In the Asian markets, the Nikkei 225 is currently down 0.92% and the Hang Seng is currently up 0.47%. On an economic data side, the Federal Reserve may scale back the pace of its interest rate hikes already in December, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said "It makes sense to moderate the pace of our rate increases as we approach the level of restraint that will be sufficient to bring inflation down. The time for moderating the pace of rate increases may come as soon as the December meeting".
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