{"id":296240,"date":"2019-01-30T13:58:44","date_gmt":"2019-01-30T11:58:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=296240"},"modified":"2019-01-30T13:58:57","modified_gmt":"2019-01-30T11:58:57","slug":"a-stronger-rand-in-february-the-data-suggests-so","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/296240\/a-stronger-rand-in-february-the-data-suggests-so\/","title":{"rendered":"A stronger rand in February? The data suggests so"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

As if January\u2019s potential record gain isn\u2019t enough, the rand may be in for a positive February as well if history is any guide.<\/p>\n

Seasonal data show that South Africa\u2019s currency has strengthened against the dollar in February in seven of the past 10 years.<\/p>\n

Optimism about local political developments and a global risk-on mood spurred the rand to back-to-back monthly gains in January and February last year, and the same factors have already pushed it to its best start since at least 1999 this time round.<\/p>\n

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni is scheduled to present the budget on Feb. 20, but few are expecting major changes from the numbers signaled in his mid-term fiscal statement in October.<\/p>\n

Should the budget outcome meet expectations, that may reduce the chance of Moody\u2019s Investors Service lowering the nation\u2019s credit rating when it reviews its assessment in March.<\/p>\n

Still, investors should be mindful of the rand\u2019s volatile nature, said Elna Moolman, a Johannesburg-based economist at Standard Bank Group Ltd.<\/p>\n

\u201cA pragmatic budget that doesn\u2019t trigger negative sovereign credit rating action might be an initial catalyst for some appreciation,\u201d she wrote in a client note.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a risk that, like early last year, rand strength will overshoot once optimism about policy and political reform is revived.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Read: The rand is headed for its best-ever start to a year \u2013 and it may just be the beginning<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As if January\u2019s potential record gain isn\u2019t enough, the rand may be in for a positive February as well if history is any guide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":222767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-296240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296240"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":296246,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296240\/revisions\/296246"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}