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S.African rand hits six-week high as SARB hikes by 50 bps
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Banxico, Colombia cbank seen hiking by 25 bps each
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Brazil proposes new fiscal rules
By Shreyashi Sanyal March 30 (Reuters) - South Africa's rand jumped to a six-week high on Thursday after its central bank raised interest rates above expectations in a surprise move, with focus also on central banks in Colombia and Mexico that are expected to hike rates later in the day.
The rand strengthened as much as 17.75 against the dollar, touching its highest level since mid-February and was last up 1.5%.
The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) raised its main lending rate by a massive 50 basis points (bps) to 7.75% against expectations of 25 bps increase. "The rand is a short term beneficiary of the surprise decision to hike rates more than was anticipated," said Shaun Murison, senior market analyst at IG in Gauteng, South Africa. "However, while we are seeing some short term strength, the longer term trend for the domestic currency remains that of depreciation and its fate will largely be dictated by global risk on risk off scenarios and their effects on key export commodity pricing as well." Analysts mostly agreed that the decision was more hawkish than expected, it also proved that the SARB was committed to bring inflation under control.
Data showed last week that February consumer inflation in South Africa rose to 7.0% year on year from 6.9% in January, signaling that rolling power cuts nationwide may be fuelling price pressures. The rand was a clear outperformer on the day, with the MSCI's broader emerging markets currencies index up 0.2%. The MSCI's index for Latin American currencies was flat.
Mexico's peso dipped 0.3%, looking to snap five-straight days of gains ahead of what will likely be a 25 bps rate increases. Stocks in the region eked out gains of 0.3%. The Bank of Mexico is expected to moderate the pace of its monetary tightening, after increasing rates by 50 bps in February, as inflation has shown signs of cooling. Colombia's central bank is also seen raising rates by 25 bps one last time amid forecasts that the slowing economy will cool inflation. The peso fell 0.4%, while stocks rose 1.3% tracking gains in oil prices.
Brazil's real shed 0.2% as investors digested the announcement of the country's new fiscal rules proposal, which would cap spending growth at 70% of revenue growth while also setting a floor for public investments.
Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1441 GMT:
Stock indexes Latest Daily
%
change
MSCI Emerging Markets 985.80 0.58
MSCI LatAm 2197.73 0.97
Brazil Bovespa 102895.4 1.08
2
Mexico IPC 54012.85 0.24
Chile IPSA 5326.90 0.25
Argentina MerVal 248568.2 -0.215
8
Colombia COLCAP 1134.20 1.3
Currencies Latest Daily
%
change
Brazil real 5.1347 0.00
Mexico peso 18.0970 -0.07
Chile peso 790.2 0.58
Colombia peso 4641.2 -0.65
Peru sol 3.7519 -0.33
Argentina peso (interbank) 208.6000 -0.14 Argentina peso (parallel) 388 1.29
(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru, Editing by Angus
MacSwan)
