FX | - Part 2

Kenyan Shilling Rises to 10-Month High as Dollar Demand Muted

NAIROBI, Kenya, Capital Markets in Africa — The Kenyan shilling rose to the highest level against the dollar in 10 months amid muted demand for the greenback from importers in East Africa’s largest company. The currency added 0.3 percent to 100.35 per dollar as of 11.33 a.m. in the capital, Nairobi, the highest since July 6 on a closing basis. The shilling extended its gain this week to 0.7 percent, the most since the five days ended…

Rand Tumbles as South African Downgrade Concerns Return

Posted on by The Editorial Team

Johannesburg, South Africa, Capital Markets in Africa — The rand weakened below 15 per dollar to the lowest in almost a month amid increasing expectations among economists that South Africa’s credit rating will be cut by the end of this year as growth falters. The rand fell as much as 1.2 percent to 15.1568, the weakest since April 7 on a closing basis, before paring its losses to be little changed at 14.9659 by 1:59 p.m. in…

South Africa’s Rand Gains to Five-Month High Versus Dollar

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Johannesburg, South Africa, Capital Markets in Africa — The rand gained to its strongest level against the dollar in five months after South Africa unexpectedly posted a trade surplus in March for the first time this year. The currency gained 0.9 percent to 14.1611 per dollar by 2:46 p.m. in Johannesburg, heading for the strongest level since Nov. 24 and the best performance out of 31 major and emerging-market currencies monitored by Bloomberg. The rand has advanced 9.2 percent…

Zambia’s World-Beating Kwacha Shows Copper Can Outshine Gold

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LUSAKA, Zambia, Capital Markets in Africa — Zambia’s kwacha has gone from the world’s third-worst performance in 2015 to the best this year, outshining gold, silver and 150 other other currencies and precious metals tracked by Bloomberg. Further gains are in store as copper prices recover, according to ETM Analytics. The currency of Africa’s second-biggest copper producer has advanced 19.9 percent against the dollar in 2016, surpassing gold’s 16.3 percent gain, after slumping 42 percent in 2015….

Central Bank of Egypt to auction US$1.5bn to stabilise the currency

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CAIRO, Egypt, Capital Markets in Africa — Egypt’s central bank will offer US$1.5 billion today in its third special foreign exchange auction of the week, part of an effort to crush the currency black market and stabilize the Egyptian pound a day after a major devaluation. Egypt devalued the pound on Monday to 8.85 pounds to the dollar from 7.73 pounds and announced that it would shift to a more flexible exchange rate. The equity…

Nigeria – FX concerns hit business sentiment

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LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — The Standard Chartered-MNI Business Sentiment Indicator (BSI) for Nigeria fell to 59.2 in February, its lowest level since February 2015. Seasonal factors seem to have been partly at play, as activity slows in January and February following an increase over Christmas. However, concerns about the exchange rate also continue to weigh on sentiment. Nigerian businesses were concerned about current business conditions, as the economy continues to be pressured…

Nigeria’s FX traders lower speculation on naira devaluation …

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS, Nigeria, Capital Markets in Africa — FX traders lower their speculations against the naira, as the Central Bank of Nigeria ignore investors/analysts devaluation calls at the Tuesday’s press brief. At the press brief, the central bank governor Emefiele provided no suggestions that the central bank is ready to devalue the naira and ease the import controls which enable the interbank exchange rate to be fixed between 197-199 naira per dollar since March 2015. Even though the black-market rate…

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