With South African markets closed for the national Heritage Day celebrations, Rand movement may be limited.
That being said, the South African asset was able to gain modestly overnight as better-than-forecast manufacturing data for China boosted the economic outlooks for commodity driven nations.
The Pound Sterling/Rand exchange rate is currently in the region of 15.8123 as of 10:20 GMT
Although economists expected the HSBC/Markit manufacturing gauge to advance from 50.1 to 50.9 in September, the sector actually expanded to 51.2 this month. As China is South Africa’s largest trading partners, the prospects for the former nation were improved by the unexpectedly good result.
In a statement issued with the report, economist Hongbin Qu commented; ‘We expect a more sustained recovery as the further filtering-through of fine-tuning measures should lift domestic demand. This will create more favourable conditions to push forward reforms, which should in turn boost mid and long-term growth outlooks’.
The GBP/ZAR exchange rate hit a high of 15.6444 Rand per Pound
After the report was published the Rand strengthened to 9.8388 against the US Dollar and 15.6552 against the Pound.
An absence of UK data is likely to restrain any additional movement in the GBP/ZAR pairing until South African markets reopen tomorrow, but this afternoon’s US news (including the preliminary US Markit PMI reading) could have an impact on the USD/ZAR pairing.
South Africa data to watch out for this week includes Wednesday’s consumer confidence measure and Thursday’s producer price.
Of course this week will also be dominated by speculation surrounding the likelihood of the Federal Reserve tapering stimulus before the close of the year. Last week a Fed official intimated that an October taper could be on the cards. If this week’s US data shows economic improvement, and so adds to the case for a 2013 trimming of easing, the Rand could weaken back beyond the psychological 10 Rand per Dollar level.
Current South African (ZAR) Exchange Rates:
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The US Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 9.7214 >
The Pound Sterling/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 15.8123 >
The Euro/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 13.3316 >
The Australian Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 9.3019 >
The New Zealand Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of 8.2362 >
The Canadian Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently trading in the region of 9.5541 >
(Correct as of 10:20 GMT)
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