Daily Market Commentary Flash Note March 30, 2021

Currencies	Rand recovery sees it trade back towards the lower end of its recent range.
Commodities	Oil climbed amid expectations that the OPEC+ will maintain its production curbs.
Equities	Asian markets are trading with a cautious bias and with indices a little mixed as investors assess the default risk from US hedge funds, rising COVID-19 cases in Europe and the lack of positive catalysts to spur the markets higher.

Date	Region	Event	Actual/Expected/Prior	Implications
30/03	US	Conference Board Consumer Confidence	–/96.8/91.3	Confidence expected to improve, as indicated by the University of Michigan Sentiment indicator.
30/03	JN	Unemployment Rate	2.9%/3.0%/2.9%	Unemployment remained unchanged at 2.9% in February, better than consensus which expected an increase to 3.0%.
30/03	JN	Retail Sales	-1.5%/-2.8%/-2.4%	Retail sales increased by 3.1% m/m in February.
31/03	SA	Trade Balance	–/18.8b/11.8b	Driven by growth in exports and low import growth given current domestic economic conditions.