With all the focus on US monetary policy and what that means for the Dollar, yesterday was a timely reminder that support for the Rand can also come from the East. The good news is that we could see even more support later in the week.

It has finally arrived.  Not exactly the last working week for the year but definitely the last week for my forex report.  Hopefully, we see some movement in the Rand over the next five days as last week we were stuck in a narrow trading range which made reporting on events rather dull.   

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier has been ousted by a vote of no-confidence.  The life-long politician will probably not attend the government’s Christmas party but that shouldn’t detract from the festivities as by his own admission he “is not a fun guy”, and he has little time for the “bluster” of his younger colleagues.

Finally some good news out of the Middle East where the US and France have brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah with the fighting having stopped in the early hours of this morning. The region remains extremely tense, but this is a big step in the right direction.