Trading in the rand was quiet on Monday afternoon‚ however ongoing labour unrest in the Western Cape and the downgrade by rating agency Fitch continue to influence market sentiment.
“It’s likely that we’ll see a couple of days of consolidation before we see the rand strengthening again‚” said Mark Kalkwarf a senior portfolio manager from the Iquad Group.
At 3.27pm‚ the rand was bid at R8.6982 to the US dollar from its previous close of R8.7413 on Friday. The local currency was bid at R11.6005 to the euro from its previous close of R11.6686 and at R13.9576 against sterling from R14.0920 before.
The euro was bid at $1.3346 from its overnight close of $1.3352.
“The euro/rand is at its weakest level since 2009‚” said Kalkwarf. “An announcement by the ECB president that he is not going to cut rates is positive news for the eurozone and has brought bond yields down in the area‚ but the rand has weakened due to the downgrade.” - I-Net Bridge