020 7898 0500Following on from last week, the South African rand continued to lose ground yesterday. The National Union of Metalworkers has been striking since the 1st of July, and rumours yesterday were that the union, after consulting its members, are to renew a mandate. With non-precious metals being a major export commodity of the nation, a prolonged strike could soon have a noted impact on the South African economy.
The Japanese yen strengthened yesterday after faltering global stocks triggered an appetite for risk in the market. The traditionally safe-haven Japanese yen has a reputation as a safe-haven asset, and hence any uncertainty in the market tends to go hand-in-hand with a strong yen. The Canadian dollar also gained strength after building permit figures came in significantly above forecast.
Data out of Australia this morning showed that business confidence is improving despite the governments “tough budget”. Looking forward to today we have inflation figures and retail sales data from Switzerland.
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