Forex | - Part 2

Emerging Market Stocks Pare Monthly Gain as Trump Trade Falters

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – An index of emerging-market stocks retreated, paring its biggest monthly gain since March, as concern over the new U.S. administration’s unpredictability prompted investors to avoid riskier developing-nation assets. Yields on developing-nation bonds rose relative to U.S. Treasuries, though the Brazilian real and Polish zloty led gains in currencies against a weakening dollar. Equities in India, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, the Philippines, Malaysia, South Korea and Qatar led emerging stocks lower. MSCI’s…

Nigeria Central Bank Hits Out at ‘Unpatriotic’ Policy Critics

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria’s central bank lashed out at critics of its efforts to prop up the naira and said that weakening the currency would only harm poor people. “Intelligence reports at the disposal of the bank reveal the involvement of some unpatriotic elements funding the push to have the Central Bank of Nigeria and the federal government reverse its foreign-exchange policy,” Isaac Okorafor, a spokesman, said in a statement on the Abuja-based central…

Goldman’s Contrarian View on South Africa’s Rand

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – There’s still some momentum left in South African rand’s rally, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The 148-year-old Wall Street lender predicts the currency will extend its 17 percent gain since the beginning of 2016 to end the year at 13 per dollar, a level last seen in 2015. That’s a view shared by only three out of 26 analysts in a Bloomberg survey: the median forecast is for the currency…

Volatile Pound Stokes Life Into Emerging-Market Carry Trades

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LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – There’s life in the great emerging-market carry trade yet, although now it comes with a twist. Investors are betting a trade that reaped returns of more than 20 percent last year for borrowing dollars to buy Brazil’s real, Russia’s ruble and South Africa’s rand has further to run — only they’re using the battered British pound to fund long positions in emerging-market currencies. Citigroup Inc. on Monday named shorting the pound against the Russian…

Egypt Pound Can Attain ‘Fair Value’ in 6 Months, El-Sisi Says

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CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Egyptian pound can attain its “fair value” in about six months, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said, trying to reassure his anxious nation that a price surge since the abandonment of currency controls is temporary. In a new sign of support for the central bank’s Nov. 3 decision to free the exchange rate, El-Sisi said the currency was weaker than it should be, but should strengthen as reforms take hold. The interview, his…

Emerging Markets Gain in Week as Investors Ponder Trump Policies

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Emerging-market currencies headed for their longest stretch of weekly gains in 20 months as investors questioned the pace of possible U.S. interest-rate increases. Ukraine’s hryvnia tumbled the most among peers and Turkey’s lira retreated after the biggest surge in more than a year. The MSCI gauge of developing-nation currencies climbed for a second day. A similar equity measure was little changed on Friday, on course for its third weekly advance. Brazil’s…

Cash Is King in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe as Dollar Supply Dries Up

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HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – Walk into Pedzai Nyika’s furniture factory in Zimbabwe’s capital and he’ll offer a 20 percent discount straight away — provided you pay in cash. He’s not alone. A shortage of banknotes gripping the southern African nation has become so dire that business are offering huge discounts to cash-paying customers and limiting the amounts they can charge on credit cards or refusing to accept them altogether. “I am desperate. Business is…

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