By Andre Botha, Senior Dealer, TreasuryONE
Markets are treading water at the moment as they await the moves to re-open the US economy. Currencies are range-bound this morning with the Euro at 1.0870 and the Pound at 1.2475. The Rand is at 18.8300 this morning, slightly weaker than Friday’s close. The Peoples Bank of China cut the benchmark LPR interest rate to 3.85% from 4.05% as expected today in the wake of last weeks poor GDP number.
Asian equity markets are mixed this morning while US futures are flat. Wall Street had a positive close on Friday and the JSE was 1.84% up on the day.
The Oil price remains on the backfoot at $27.70 for Brent and $19.60 for WTI. Gold has steadied after Friday’s sell-off and is trading at $1 682.60. Platinum is unchanged this morning at $786.10 while Palladium is stronger at $2 203.35.
