EMERGING MARKETS-S.African rand weakens on stimulus nerves; IMF forecast lifts lira

  • Reuters
  • Stock Market News
EMERGING MARKETS-S.African rand weakens on stimulus nerves; IMF forecast lifts lira
Credit: © Reuters.

* South African stocks retreat from record high

* Turkish lira is sole EMEA gainer

* Latam FX the worst performer in EM this year

By Ambar Warrick

Jan 26 (Reuters) - South Africa's rand weakened the most across emerging market currencies on Tuesday as investors stayed on sidelines on uncertainty over a $1.9 trillion U.S. stimulus plan, while the Turkish lira was supported by positive IMF economic forecast.

The rand ZAR= weakened about 0.6%, extending losses to a fourth straight session as tepid risk appetite was exacerbated by concerns over South Africa's fiscal health and on new variants of the coronavirus discovered in the country.

Turkey's lira TRY= fared better than most of its peers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), trading 0.2% higher to the dollar after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it expects the country's economy to grow by 6% in 2021, higher than a previous projection. sentiment in emerging markets was dented by uncertainty over a $1.9 trillion U.S. stimulus package, while surging COVID-19 cases across the globe drove currency traders into the dollar.

"Vaccination programmes are making much slower progress in a number of countries than had previously been planned. Moreover, it is uncertain to what extent vaccinations are also effective against new mutations of the virus," Antje Praefcke, FX and EM analyst at Commerzbank (DE: CBKG ) wrote in a note.

"The market's initial reaction seemed to return to the old pattern in view of this new wave of uncertainties: risk-off and into USD despite falling U.S. yields."

Most emerging market currencies are now trading in a flat-to-negative range so far this year, as developments in the pandemic offset initial optimism over steady economic recovery in 2021.

Latin American units are by far the worst performers this year, while Asian currencies have held their ground.

Emerging market stocks also retreated from recent gains, with the MSCI's index of stocks .MSCIEF tumbling 1.7% from a record high.

South African stocks .JTOPI fell 1% from a record high, while Turkish stocks .XU100 fell 0.9%.

Russia's rouble RUB= fell 0.3%, extending losses to a fourth straight session as concerns over new western sanctions weighed on local risk assets. Russian stocks .IMOEX also retreated.

Central European currencies weakened against the euro, while stocks also retreated.

For GRAPHIC on emerging market FX performance in 2021, see http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh For GRAPHIC on MSCI emerging index performance in 2021, see https://tmsnrt.rs/2OusNdX

For TOP NEWS across emerging markets CENTRAL EUROPE market report, see CEE/

For TURKISH market report, see .IS

For RUSSIAN market report, see RU/RUB

Add Chart to Comment

Comment Guidelines

We encourage you to use comments to engage with users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind: 

  • Enrich the conversation
  • Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
  • Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically.
  •  Use standard writing style. Include punctuation and upper and lower cases.
  • NOTE: Spam and/or promotional messages and links within a comment will be removed
  • Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user.
  • Don’t Monopolize the Conversation. We appreciate passion and conviction, but we also believe strongly in giving everyone a chance to air their thoughts. Therefore, in addition to civil interaction, we expect commenters to offer their opinions succinctly and thoughtfully, but not so repeatedly that others are annoyed or offended. If we receive complaints about individuals who take over a thread or forum, we reserve the right to ban them from the site, without recourse.
  • Only English comments will be allowed.

Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.

Drop an image here or Supported formats: *.jpg, *.png, *.gif up to 5mb

Error: File type not supported

Drop an image here or

100
Please try another search