The markets are in for a bumpy ride as the Russian-Ukraine situation starts to get out of hand.
Since all of these tensions rose it has had a heavy impact towards the global markets which are making investors shaky and looking for safe places like gold. The last situation that happened boosted the value of gold high for 35 weeks.
After the president of Russia Vladimir Putin increased the stakes, it got South African investors and other global investors shaking in their boots when they reopened on Tuesday, as many believe this could be an all-out war. What happened on Monday has caused a major stir in the market; already the market was shaken and caused a wipe of billions in dollars to Russia and ukraines assests.
This all-out war has crippled the local currency that ended up going down by just 0.45%, but has we always call the rand “the rattler” it continues to persist standing at the R14.97 mark against the US dollar. But as the rattler does what it does best and went back above to the R15 mark against the US dollar closing up at 0.28%.
If we would compare the local currency to other global currencies, we would say that the South African rand has been seen as a “safe place” for investors, mainly because the global market has been seeing flames since last week Wednesday. Inflation rates that have been reported could potentially force the central banks hand to increase their interest rates a lot sooner which is giving South Africa and Europe a lot of pressure.
Putting aside the issues about what todays US Federal Reserve mins could display later in the evening on Wednesday, our local market has been shown that it has been by far the best compared to other international markets. High risk and commodity prices are the possible reason for the JSE being up by 0.86% and the rand toning at the R15 mark against the US dollar. It has been also said that the south African rand is seen to be a lot safer for now given the Russia-Ukraine situation.