The rand weakened before noon on Monday as the continued unrest and uncertainty in the mining and farming sectors in SA weighed on the local currency.
“We are still experiencing some unrest and uncertainty in the South African mining and farming industries‚ this is weakening the rand. Comments from the Fed last week about them probably not continuing with quantitative easing has also taken its toll on the rand‚” said Mark Kalkwarf‚ a senior account manager from the Iquad Group.
At 11.46am‚ the rand was bid at R8.5948 to the US dollar from its previous close of R8.5549 on Friday. The local currency was bid at R11.1992 to the euro from its previous close of R11.1773 and at R13.7918 against sterling from R13.7532 before.
The euro was bid at $1.3040 from its overnight close of $1.3067.
“Markets are still very thin‚ so smaller trades are moving the market‚” he added. - I-Net Bridge