Trump win sees rand weaken
The South African Rand fell, while the US dollar surged and bitcoin hit a record high yesterday while most US equity markets advanced as traders bet on a victory for Donald Trump as results for the US presidential election rolled in.The Republican appeared to be faring better than his Democratic opponent Vice President Kamala Harris in early projections.
Both candidates have picked up expected wins in safe states, but indications that the business tycoon was winning boosted the so-called Trump Trade.
Signs that the former president's party was notching up better results in Congressional races boosted the prospect of sweeping tax cuts, more tariffs and deregulation - seen as a boost for the greenback.
The rand briefly fell to R17.80 to the dollar in the early hours of Wednesday morning, before recovering slightly to R17.70 before 08:00.
The dollar jumped 1.5% to 154.33 yen, its highest since July, while it was also up more than one percent against the euro and more than two percent against the Mexican peso.
Bitcoin piled almost US$6 000 higher to a record US$75 005.06, topping its previous peak of US$73 797.98 in March.
Trump has pledged to make the United States the "bitcoin and cryptocurrency capital of the world" and to put tech billionaire Elon Musk in charge of a wide-ranging audit of governmental waste. - AFP