020 7898 0500The South African rand was a standout performer in a day where many emerging market currencies were strong. Data from the World Bank forecasted that growth in Sub-Saharan Africa will climb to 5.2% this year. As a result, we saw an injection of confidence in emerging markets and traders buying up the respective currencies. Speculation out of China, the world’s second largest economy, that the government will adopt stimulus measures to boost economic growth also helped, as emerging markets typically thrive when global confidence is high. The rand performed particularly well, with their bonds being bought for the third day in a row – the longest stretch in two weeks – which, despite sterling strength, pushed the rand to December 2013 highs. On a side note, the Australian dollar also performed well, with China being the country’s main export destination.
Weak building permits figures out of Canada went against a string of positive data releases recently. As a result, we saw the Canadian dollar lose ground throughout the day yesterday. Despite this, however, it still remains relatively strong.
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