Rand Edges Up as Markets Await Warsh's Jackson Hole Speech

The South African rand saw an early morning gain on Friday as investors awaited Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's speech at the Jackson Hole symposium.

At 06:59 GMT, the rand was trading at 15.9725 against the dollar, up 0.2% from its previous close.

Market participants were expecting clues on how Warsh would approach monetary policy, inflation, and recent volatility in bond markets in his debut speech, although expectations were tempered by his opposition to providing explicit forward guidance on rates.

ETM Analytics noted that while the USD-ZAR downside bias remains intact, there are enough developments to make investors think twice about how much stronger they think the rand might go.