The South African (SA) Rand strengthened on Thursday on early signs that the pro-business Democratic Alliance (DA) party had performed strongly in local municipal elections and optimism over the overwhelming victory by Democrats in a United States (US) midterm vote.
The Rand traded at 16.3425 per Dollar , up about 0.5% from its previous close.
ETM Analytics said in a research note that markets were interpreting early results from Wednesday’s municipal elections “as a potential shift towards investor-friendly coalitions in major economic centres”
With 19% of votes counted, SA’s former liberation movement, the African National Congress, held about 31.4% of the vote, while the DA had 30.5%, the election commission’s website showed.
A leading research organisation predicted the final tally would give the African National Congress a similar percentage of the national vote.
On Wednesday, the rand gained more than 1% as Democrats seized control of both the House and the Senate.
SA’s benchmark 2035 government bond was stronger in early deals, with the yield down 13.5 basis points to 8.33%.
–Reuters–
