(Bloomberg) -- Even as investors from Paul Krugman to Mark Mobius fretted about a meltdown across emerging markets in the wake of the Turkish lira's tumble, one currency that many expected to catch the contagion first held firm: South Africa's rand.
On a day when the lira plunged as much as 5.5 percent, dragging peers including the Polish zloty, Hungarian forint and Czech koruna with it, the rand was the second-best performing currency in the developing world. The rand advanced 0.3 percent for a third day of advances.
With more than half of fixed-rate government debt in foreign hands, and liquid financial markets that make it easy to trade in and out of the rand, South Africa often bears the brunt of negative sentiment in emerging markets. During the so-called taper tantrum in 2013, the rand was among the worst-affected, losing 6 percent in a month.
On Wednesday, the currency took heart from consumer inflation data that showed price increases accelerating at a slower pace than economists' estimates. It also seemed that a selloff of the country's bonds by foreign investors may be easing: non-residents were net buyers of government securities on Tuesday for the first time in 13 days, according to Johannesburg Stock Exchange data.
The South Korean won was the best performer among emerging markets today, while Brazil's real and Chile's peso erased losses.
To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Brand in Cape Town at rbrand9@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dana El Baltaji at delbaltaji@bloomberg.net, Srinivasan Sivabalan
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.
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