Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa Real Estate Investor Magazine - May 2017 | Page 64

ECONOMIC INSIGHTS
Rand Sentiment
The Good, Bad & Ugly
BY JAMES PAYNTER
W
hat a month for the Rand! A month of
shock news and shock moves ‒ starting
off good, then going bad and ending up
turning ugly.
If ever there was a month to keep the market
guessing, confused and taken by surprise, March
was one of them, as the Rand first completely jinxed
the market to reach levels seen two years ago, before
turning on its heels and running for the door as Zuma
entered the ring.
Let’s start with the good (despite the bad)
Going into March, the Rand was on the back foot
after testing the 12.80 level, and as it weakened
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MAY 2017 SA Real Estate Investor
over the next couple of weeks, this was expected
to continue, especially with all the bad news about
rumours of cabinet reshuffles, the SASSA crisis
getting steadily worse, and the ridiculous furore over
Helen Zille’s tweets.
And then on top of it all, an all-but-confirmed
Fed rate hike was expected to be the final nail in the
coffin to send the Rand spiralling. And in the days
leading up to the announcement, the Rand seemed
to be agreeing with mainstream expectations as it
weakened to hit 13.36.
And then, when the news hit (a confirmed hike ‒
seen as negative for the Rand), the market reacted
‒ but in exactly the opposite way to expectations! In
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