The rand went into freefall briefly on Monday morning.

RMB Currency strategists said that following the worst day for Wall Street in months on Friday, US small business lender CIT filed for bankruptcy over the weekend in what was one of the largest corporate failures in history.

"The US dollar/rand spiked immediately to 8.25 as trade opened in Asia on Monday — but this was a massive overreaction and we should come into regular trade at around 7.90 this [Monday] morning.

"Indeed, trade up at the highs was very brief and illiquid and the scope for getting any orders filled was almost non existent," RMB said.

Still, the spike showed just how nervous markets were — and how the rand was an obvious victim, RMB said.

"Now, it's all about global risk appetite.

"The fear really is that the global recovery will not have any legs and we will slip back into a W-shaped recession," RMB said.

This, it said, would ultimately be signalled by the data going into next year.

"For now the nervous markets will react strongly to any data signalling confidence and consumer intentions."

Sapa

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