The rand strengthened on Friday afternoon after contractors for the Department of Energy’s contracts for the independent power producer procurement programme entered into forward purchasing.
“The purchase of the initial part of the energy programme has run its course; after yesterday’s purchasing the market has settled down. It has been a rather quiet market as the dollar hasn’t really done anything today‚” said Mark Kalkwarf‚ a senior portfolio manager from the Iquad Group.
At 3.29pm‚ the rand was bid at R8.8639 to the US dollar from Thursday’s close of R8.9020. The local currency was bid at R11.3037 to the euro from its previous close of R11.3279 and at R14.0789 against sterling from R14.0958 before.
The euro was bid at $1.2750 from Thursday’s close of $1.2729.
“The strikes have been factored into the rand‚” Kalkwarf said. - I-Net Bridge