South Africa's rand, bonds under pressure after Gordhan exit

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand recovered some ground on Friday as investors took profits after the currency fell sharply following President Jacob Zuma's late night decision to remove finance minister Pravin Gordhan.

Stocks also suffered, with banking shares hardest hit following the president's surprise move to fire Gordhan and eight other ministers.

At 1410 GMT, the rand was 0.26 percent weaker at 13.3350 per dollar, off a session low of 13.6100 touched in the aftermath of the cabinet shake-up.

Traders said some investors short on the currency had booked profits ahead of the weekend, after the rand plunged as much as 5 percent, nearing its biggest weekly fall since December 2015.

The recovery, however, could be limited, with resistance around 13.200 seen kicking in next week.

The increased likelihood of a South African credit downgrade to sub-investment level is also set to put pressure on the rand, which until Zuma's decision was the best performing emerging market currency year-to-date.

Fitch, one of two rating firms that rate South Africa's credit score just one notch above junk, said on Friday the reshuffle could weaken public finances and standards of governance if the fiscal consolidation championed by Gordhan became less of a priority.

"Previous statements from the ratings agencies had stressed the importance of maintaining the "current team" at the treasury, so South Africa will probably now lose its investment-grade rating," said analysts at Capital Economics in a note.

In equities, the main exchanges were down slightly, with the banking sector taking the largest hit as investor confidence in the country's economic stability wavered.

At 1350 GMT, the Top-40 index was down 0.05 percent to 45,171 points, while the broader All-share index had slipped 0.11 percent to 45,174 points.

The banking index was down 5.6 percent with Nedbank leading the decliners, shedding 6.4 percent to 243 rand, followed by Standard Bank, which fell 6 percent to 144 rand. Barclays Africa slipped 5.7 percent to 141 rand, while FirstRand slumped 5.5 percent to 46 rand.

Bonds also recovered slightly, but yields on the benchmark paper were still up around 57 basis points for the week. The cost of insuring South African government debt against default hit its highest in 15 weeks.