The rand held its ground on Wednesday afternoon as post-election jitters increased pressure on the US dollar and aided commodity-driven currencies.
“We saw a bit of strength this morning from the local currency; now that the US elections are over traders are worried about possible tax cuts in the US‚ which is detrimental to the dollar as it will cause inflationary problems‚” said Kuziva Muganiwa‚ a global markets analyst from Vunani Capital.
At 3.48am‚ the rand was bid at R8.6287 to the US dollar from Tuesday’s close of R8.6333. It was bid at R11.0095 to the euro from its previous close of R11.0521 and at R13.7774 against sterling from R13.8043 before.
The euro was bid at $1.2758 from Tuesday’s close of $1.2806.
“Global traders are pulling their money out of the dollar and into commodities‚” Muganiwa said. - I-Net Bridge