{"id":388129,"date":"2020-04-07T14:11:41","date_gmt":"2020-04-07T12:11:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=388129"},"modified":"2020-04-07T14:11:41","modified_gmt":"2020-04-07T12:11:41","slug":"a-top-strategist-says-its-time-to-pile-into-the-worlds-worst-currencies-like-the-rand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/388129\/a-top-strategist-says-its-time-to-pile-into-the-worlds-worst-currencies-like-the-rand\/","title":{"rendered":"A top strategist says it\u2019s time to pile into the world\u2019s &#8216;worst&#8217; currencies &#8211; like the rand"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Emerging-market currencies offer the best buying opportunity in more than two decades, according to Charlie Robertson, Renaissance Capital\u2019s global chief economist.<\/p>\n<p>The London-based strategist said he particularly likes the South African rand, Mexican peso and Brazilian real, which happen to be the three hardest-hit major currencies this year.<\/p>\n<p>His bull case is based on historically cheap valuations, funding support from multilateral lenders and the prospect of a weaker US dollar. Meantime, he said crude oil prices could rebound to $45 or $50 per barrel \u201cmedium term,\u201d buoying assets such as Russia\u2019s ruble.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s the best time to buy emerging markets in over 20 years,\u201d Robertson, 48, said in an interview on Monday. \u201cThis is the cheapest opportunity since the last time everyone hated EM after the Asian crisis and Russian default.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Peak-pain.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-388131 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Peak-pain.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"814\" height=\"457\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Peak-pain.jpg 814w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Peak-pain-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Peak-pain-768x431.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 814px) 100vw, 814px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Robertson, who earned plaudits for a wager on Romanian bonds in the late 1990s as well as a bet on South Africa\u2019s rand in 2016, is among a contingent of contrarians flagging emerging-market bargains, even as some of the world\u2019s biggest money managers warn of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2020-04-01\/even-wall-street-s-bottom-fishers-won-t-go-near-emerging-markets\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">more pain to come<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>MSCI\u2019s developing-nation currency gauge hit a three-year low last month, and Robertson\u2019s top picks in South Africa, Mexico and Brazil are testing their weakest levels ever.<\/p>\n<p>Those sell-offs may soon reverse as Renaissance Capital expects the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2020-04-06\/imf-mulls-fed-like-program-to-supply-dollars-to-more-economies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">backstop<\/a>\u00a0many developing nations, while U.S. President Donald Trump pushes for a cheaper dollar.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese are remarkable valuation levels,\u201d Robertson said.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/387919\/where-to-next-for-the-rand\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Where to next for the rand?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Emerging-market currencies offer the best buying opportunity in more than two decades, according to Charlie Robertson, Renaissance Capital\u2019s global chief economist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":234079,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-388129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388129","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=388129"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":388137,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388129\/revisions\/388137"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}