The South African Rand is on course for a weekly low against the Pound and is set make its worst weekly decline in five against the US Dollar as investors increase their bets that this afternoons US data will come in strongly, boosting speculation that the Federal Reserve will taper its stimulus programme.
Today’s key US non-farm payrolls and unemployment rate data is likely to add to signs that the US economy is improving and are expecting to add to yesterday’s better than forecast jobless claims and GDP figures. The positive run of data releases is likely to cause investors to increase their bets that the Fed will opt to taper its quantitative easing programme which has bolstered emerging and commodity based currencies.
“We had numerous strong U.S. data points this week, including jobless claims, gross domestic product and new home sales,” John Cairns, a currency strategist at FirstRand Ltd.’s Rand Merchant Bank unit, said by phone from Johannesburg today. “Most emerging markets came under pressure.”
Friday also proved to be a sad day for South Africa following the death of Nelson Mandela. The former president’s death did not impact the foreign exchange market but did see the Johannesburg Stock Exchange cease trading for five minutes.
The Rand remains under pressure from data released earlier in the week which showed that South Africa’s current account deficit widened to 6.8% of GDP. The economy is also expected to expand at its slowest pace since 2009.
Current South African (ZAR) Exchange Rates
The US Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 10.4771
The Pound Sterling/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 17.1417
The Euro/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 14.3201
The Australian Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 9.4974
The New Zealand Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of 8.5852
The Canadian Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently trading in the region of 9.8318
(Correct as of 11:00 am GMT)
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