US Fed expected to hike interest rates
Rand steady at weak levels
The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) last week hiked the repo rate by 50 basis points to 8.25%.
The dollar held firm on Monday supported by growing expectations of further rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve, though news that a debt ceiling deal had been finalised drew some of the safe haven bids away from the greenback.
The rand was steady, trading at R19.62/$ on Monday morning after hitting a record low of almost R19.83 last week.
The US dollar notched a fresh six-month high of 140.91 yen in early Asia trade before reversing some of those gains to last trade at 140.39 yen. It was on course for a monthly gain of about 3% against the Japanese currency.
The yen's renewed decline has come on the back of rising US Treasury yields, as bets grow that interest rates in the United States would stay higher for longer.
Data released on Friday showed that US consumer spending increased more than expected in April and inflation picked up, adding to signs of a still-resilient economy.
Yields on US Treasuries jumped on the back of the data, with the two-year yield, which typically reflects near-term interest rate expectations, rising to an over two-month high of 4.639% on Friday.
Cash US Treasuries were untraded in Asia on Monday, owing to the Memorial Day holiday in the United States, while futures were broadly steady. Ten-year futures' implied yield was 3.84%.
The UK market is similarly closed on Monday for a holiday. Against the dollar, the euro edged 0.02% higher to US$1.0735, while sterling slipped 0.01% to $1.23495.
"Whether the dollar sustains the rally that we're seeing, I think it'll depend on particularly the wages data, or average earnings within Friday's payrolls report, and obviously we've got CPI before the Fed as well," said Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank (NAB).
"There's still quite a lot of data to flow under the bridge before we get to the June meeting."
Money markets are now pricing in a 62% chance that the Fed will raise rates by 25 bps in June, as compared to a roughly 26% chance a week ago, according to the CME FedWatch tool.-Fin24
The rand was steady, trading at R19.62/$ on Monday morning after hitting a record low of almost R19.83 last week.
The US dollar notched a fresh six-month high of 140.91 yen in early Asia trade before reversing some of those gains to last trade at 140.39 yen. It was on course for a monthly gain of about 3% against the Japanese currency.
The yen's renewed decline has come on the back of rising US Treasury yields, as bets grow that interest rates in the United States would stay higher for longer.
Data released on Friday showed that US consumer spending increased more than expected in April and inflation picked up, adding to signs of a still-resilient economy.
Yields on US Treasuries jumped on the back of the data, with the two-year yield, which typically reflects near-term interest rate expectations, rising to an over two-month high of 4.639% on Friday.
Cash US Treasuries were untraded in Asia on Monday, owing to the Memorial Day holiday in the United States, while futures were broadly steady. Ten-year futures' implied yield was 3.84%.
The UK market is similarly closed on Monday for a holiday. Against the dollar, the euro edged 0.02% higher to US$1.0735, while sterling slipped 0.01% to $1.23495.
"Whether the dollar sustains the rally that we're seeing, I think it'll depend on particularly the wages data, or average earnings within Friday's payrolls report, and obviously we've got CPI before the Fed as well," said Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank (NAB).
"There's still quite a lot of data to flow under the bridge before we get to the June meeting."
Money markets are now pricing in a 62% chance that the Fed will raise rates by 25 bps in June, as compared to a roughly 26% chance a week ago, according to the CME FedWatch tool.-Fin24
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