Germany’s soldiers of misfortune

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The rand firmed against a softer dollar in early stages Friday, with investor appetite towards emerging markets lifted by renewed moves by Washington and Beijing to tackle their trade dispute as well as a rate hike in crisis-hit Turkey.

At 0645 GMT the rand was 0.56% stronger at 14.70 per dollar when compared with a close of 14.78 in The big apple.

The Turkish lira firmed 0.95% on a daily basis following the central bank raised its benchmark rate by 625 basis points.

Read: Turkish lira eases after hefty central bank rate hike

The move in Turkey halted a deep selloff from the lira which in fact have dragged down other emerging market currencies as risk demand wilted on fears of contagion.

Risk appetite has also been soothed by Chinese officials welcoming a party’s invitation from America Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for first time trade talks.

Moody’s comment at a conference in Johannesburg on Thursday it had become unlikely to take Pretoria’s foreign debt to non-investment grade, despite last week’s surprise slide into recession, in addition supported the rand.

Bonds were firmer, using the yield about the benchmark paper due in 2026 falling 3.5 basis suggests 9.085%.

Stocks were set to spread out higher at 0700 GMT, when using the JSE securities exchange’s Top 40 Futures index up 0.5%.?