As the US government shutdown enters its third week and the debt ceiling deadline approaches, the Rand has softened slightly against peers like the US Dollar and Pound.
However, despite its modest declines, the emerging-market Rand is trading in a fairly narrow range as industry experts speculate on the outcome of the all-important US budget talks.
The Pound Sterling/Rand exchange rate is currently in the region of 15.9280 as of 16:05 GMT
The deadline for avoiding a potentially cataclysmic default is just three days away, and as it stands an agreement remains beyond reach.
Although US officials have expressed hopes of bringing the Federal shutdown to an end and have pledged to avoid the disastrous repercussions of a default, neither side seems willing to compromise too much to end the fiscal impasse.
The GBP/ZAR exchange rate hit a low of 15.7120 Rand per Pound
As Absa Capital analysts observed; ‘Due to this lingering uncertainty surrounding the US, as well as the dearth of local data over the coming days, rand participants are still lacking conviction, which implies that the Rand is likely to continue oscillating around the psychological 10 Rand to the Dollar handle for the time being.’
The Rand softened against the Pound as the British currency was bolstered ahead of the release of UK retail sales, employment and inflation data.
The major South African economic report to watch out for this week, retail sales figures, is due out on Wednesday.
Economists have forecast that sales climbed by 2.8 per cent in August year-on-year but declined by 0.5 per cent month-on-month.
Current South African (ZAR) Exchange Rates:
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The US Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 9.9413 >
The Pound Sterling/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 15.9280 >
The Euro/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 13.5317 >
The Australian Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 9.3602 >
The New Zealand Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of 8.2325 >
The Canadian Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently trading in the region of 9.5102 >
(Correct as of 16:05 GMT)
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