The rand was flat before noon on Friday after a surge in foreign purchasing in the South African bond market offered some relief for local forex traders.
“We saw a slight recovery in the local currency due to foreigners buying over R300 million South African bonds‚” said Kuziva Muganiwa‚ a global market analyst from Vunani Capital.
At 11.35am‚ the rand was bid at R8.8989 to the US dollar from Thursday’s close of R8.9020. The local currency was bid at R11.3293 to the euro from its previous close of R11.3279 and at R14.1224 against sterling from R14.0958 before.
The euro was bid at $1.2734 from Thursday’s close of $1.2729.
“The bonds purchasing was the only glimmer of hope for the local currency as the rand was still heavily weighed down by local unrest in the mining and farming industry and global fears‚” Muganiwa said. - I-Net Bridge