Rand pares losses

Graphic: renjith krishnan

Graphic: renjith krishnan

Published Aug 16, 2012

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The rand was off its worst levels in the afternoon session‚ with analysts attributing the day’s recovery in the rand/US dollar to worse-than-anticipated US housing data‚ which kept hopes alive of more monetary easing from the US Federal Reserve.

At 4.09pm local time the rand was bid at R8.2238 to the dollar from Wednesday’s close of R8.2140. It was trading at R10.1321 to the euro from its previous close of R10.0884 and at R12.9275 against sterling from R12.8809 before.

The euro was bid at US$1.2329 from $1.2281.

US home building slipped in July after a strong gain in June while new permits rose to their highest level in four years‚ Dow Jones Newswires reported.

Housing starts decreased 1.1% last month from June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 746‚000‚ the Commerce Department said on Thursday. Compared with a year ago‚ new construction was up 21.5%. The results were weaker than forecast. - I-Net Bridge

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