South African rand, stocks recover even as unrest continued

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand recovered on Wednesday from the three-month lows plumbed in recent days, even as the army and police struggled to quell days of looting and violence.

The continent's most industrialised economy has been gripped by some of the worst violence in decades after grievances unleashed by the jailing of former President Jacob Zuma spilled over.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Wednesday he might order more troops to reinforce the army and the police already deployed.

At 1620 GMT, the rand traded at 14.5400 against the dollar, 1.36pc stronger than Tuesday.

The rand's 200-day moving average of 14.8529 should provide some resistance, Warwick Butler, trader at Standard Bank said in a note.

Wayne McCurrie, portfolio manager at FNB said the major reason for the rand's fall in the last few days was because it was over-valued.

South African rand opens slightly firmer; eyes on Fed minutes

"All of this unrest was the trigger that made the rand fall," he said, adding that the biggest influence on the local currency was the commodity cycle and as long as that was going strong the rand would stay in a reasonable range.

The local stock market also rebounded as investors followed cues from the United States, where the S&P 500 touched a record high after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated the central bank would stick to its accommodative policy.

Stocks that are dependent on the local economy, such as banks and retail companies, also recouped some of their losses seen in last few days.

"The investment markets always look forward and as long as this is not the new normal in South Africa, the market will discount it," McCurrie said on the impact of the protests on the companies and the economy at large.

South African rand weaker as dollar creeps higher

The benchmark all-share index closed up 1.21pc at 67,898 points and the blue-chip index of top 40 companies ended up 1.33pc to 61,754 points.

Government bonds were slightly weaker, with the yield of the instrument due in 2030 rising 1.5 basis point to 9.005pc.

It breached the 9pc mark for the first time since late June on Tuesday.