MARKET WRAP: Fitch outlook change and Moody’s comment put rand under pressure

The rand weakened further late on Friday after ratings agency Fitch dropped the outlook on SA’s sovereign debt to negative from stable.

The rally in the rand came in the wake of expectations that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates, and saw the local currency trade below R14/$ for almost two weeks. “Fiscal metrics have deteriorated significantly due to under-performance of revenue, which is expected to worsen in the current fiscal year as growth has turned out to be weaker than expected. Low-trend GDP growth means that economic recovery is not expected to drive a major fiscal improvement in later years, while we also forecast expenditure to increase.”

The US economy grew 2.1% year-on-year in the second quarter from 3.1% previously. Despite the fall, the growth surpassed the 1.8% forecast by analysts in a Bloomberg poll. The latest quarterly GDP figures are considered as crucial data ahead of the Fed’s meeting at the end of July as markets have fully priced in a rate cut. Market expectations of a 25-basis-point cut were at 79.6% on Friday according to CME Groups’s Fed watchlist.

Absa was down 1.97% to R163.29, Nedbank 1.09% to R245.79, Firstrand 1.07% to R62.24, and Standard Bank 1.06% to R182.29. Agarwal said on Thursday that he is selling his stake in the diversified mining company.

South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

MARKET WRAP: JSE closes lower as ECB rate decision weighs on European stocksLocally, credit ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service said that Eskom’s R59bn bailout is credit-negative for SA
Source: TimesLIVE - 🏆 28. / 59 Read more »

MARKET WRAP: JSE closes lower as ECB rate decision weighs on European stocksLocally, credit ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service said that Eskom’s R59bn bailout is credit-negative for SA
Source: BDliveSA - 🏆 12. / 63 Read more »

Fitch revises outlook on SA to 'negative'Fitch Ratings has revised the outlook on South Africa's long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating (IDR) to 'negative' from 'stable'. Not surprising at all. Stractomist are at it again It’s imploding right in front of us...thanks MYANC .....
Source: eNCA - 🏆 49. / 51 Read more »

Fitch revises its outlook on SA's credit rating from stable to negative - SABC News - Breaking news, special reports, world, business, sport coverage of all South African current events. Africa's news leader.Rating agency Fitch has revised its outlook on South Africa's credit rating from stable to negative. Not good at all! We are so screwed 🗣️🗣️'Pravin Gordhan is fixing the SOEs '
Source: SABC News Online - 🏆 32. / 51 Read more »

Fitch takes grim view on SA, changing its outlook to negativeThe ratings agency expects GDP growth of just 0.5% this year, lower than the Reserve Bank’s projection of 0.6% Not a big issue,really if their issue is ESKOM BAILOUT. FitchRatings is nothing but a puppet of America, south Africa should pullout if this system Tired of this ratings crap...
Source: TimesLIVE - 🏆 28. / 59 Read more »

US justice department opens probe into Big Tech’s market powerReview looks at whether leading online platforms are smothering competition
Source: BDliveSA - 🏆 12. / 63 Read more »