World’s Best Currency? South African Rand
Surprising story buried deep on Bloomberg: The world’s strongest currency is the South African Rand:
South Africa’s rand, the world’s best-performing major currency this year, may rally another 4 percent if it breaks through 8.23 per dollar and stays there, based on technical analysis by Barclays Plc-owned Absa Capital.
Candlestick charting shows the rand closed stronger than its opening levels everyday last week, suggesting it’s “fighting” to appreciate further, said Judy Padayachee, a technical analyst at Johannesburg-based Absa. Even so, it has yet to remain stronger than the so-called “resistance” level of 8.23 per dollar, according to Padayachee.
Go figure . . .
Nice looking bill, though:
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Source:
Rand, World’s Best Currency, May Gain 4%: Technical Analysis
Garth Theunissen
Bloomberg, May 25, 2009
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=aFyPvht9_PEU
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May 25th, 2009 at 8:14 am
Currency wank off, most small currencies were devalued against the US dollar with the financial crisis, and now (since March) they are returning to normalcy.
May 25th, 2009 at 8:18 am
It is just another commodity currency.
Compare it to other commodity exporters and you will see a trend of commodity currencies soaring.
May 25th, 2009 at 8:23 am
BR,
that’s a Cape Buffalo. back in earlier daze, peep packed the .475 H&H and hunted them, on Safari.
somewhat akin to hunting Uncle Jethro’s prize-winning Brahma-Bull.
past that, as above, this story belongs in the “Olds”, the Rand has nearly doubled, no?
May 25th, 2009 at 8:30 am
nice article UK Telegraph about the upcoming Treasury auctions- excerpt:
“The US is acutely vulnerable because it relies heavily on foreign goodwill. China and Japan alone hold 23pc of America’s $6,369bn federal debt. Suspicions that Washington is trying to engineer a stealth default by letting the dollar slide could cause patience to snap, even if Asian exporters would themselves suffer if they harmed their chief market.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/5379733/US-bonds-sale-faces-market-resistance.html
May 25th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Barry, you ever visited South Africa? I returned last November from UK and as an IT contractor I’m still finding plenty of work here!
May 25th, 2009 at 8:56 am
tangentially:
http://news.google.com/news/more?pz=1&ned=us&cf=all&ncl=dBkHGaupgcblbcMVH4ugujiy7tZJM#articles
seems that MSM-coverage of “cap and trade” is, awfully, scant..
as an aside, “Green Shoots for the American Economy” was discovered as being an inadvertent typesetting error.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/inadvertently
the original intent? “Greens Shoot for the American Economy”
and we Wonder why the value of yon’ Paperback is going up in smoke..
May 25th, 2009 at 9:23 am
Who’s the person hiding out as a water buffalo?
May 25th, 2009 at 10:57 am
All I know is those buffalo make great mozzarella cheese!
May 25th, 2009 at 11:43 am
cvienne,
they’re not water buffalo..
and, seeing as you like wagers, I’ll go with U$D 10 000 if you milk one of those Cape Buffalo.
be advised: http://animal.discovery.com/fansites/wildkingdom/buffalo-warrior/facts/facts.html
4 starters
May 25th, 2009 at 11:49 am
BRL is nearly tied with ZAR so far this year.
May 25th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
All I know is those buffalo make great mozzarella cheese!
You should taste their wings! ;)
and somehow I just can’t picture a buffalo stirring a cheese vat….but I’ll take your word for it :)
May 25th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Rand is one of the most liquid commodity currencies in the world. GS issued a note to clients a few months back to play the carry trade as interest rates are still 7-8% in South Africa. However most currency experts still have the rand in a R7.50 – R12.00 trading range for this year indicating that should the green shoots momentum fade we can expect the Rand to reverse 10%-20% in rapid time, as traders race to close out their carry trades.
Shorting the dollar against the rand is risky especially if the R8.20:$1 support level holds….unless of course you believe we are in a V shaped recovery.
May 25th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
There are more stable commodity currency plays than the Rand.
May 25th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
I spent 15 months in South Africa as a management consultant for a major mining company there, and if anything I would be inclined to short ZAR here. Any decline in the prices of gold, PGMs, iron ore, and other commodities will send it back to 12.00 in a hurry. You’ve also got the political uncertainties of the new Zuma government to contend with.
That said, SA actually does have a fairly well-capitalized and liquid banking sector, which they created by making it nearly impossible for their citizens to move money out of the country.