The South African Rand is trading close to its lowest level since March 2009 after the currency took another knock yesterday which caused it to decline to R9.2488 against the Dollar.
The currency is struggling to find any support after yesterday’s retail sales, which are a strong gauge of consumer spending, slowed unexpectedly to 1.9% in January compared with the same month last year, and far below the expected 3.7%.
Fears over the country’s unsustainable current account deficit have also spooked the markets and has piled pressure onto the Rand. The stronger US Dollar as result of better-than-expected economic data out of the world’s largest economy as also weighed the Rand down.
Mark Kalkwarf‚ a senior portfolio manager at the Iquad Group said:
“Although there is no new news this morning‚ continuing negative news whether its labour unrest or economic data means there won’t be any respite for the Rand. Some of the deficit fears will have already been priced into the Rand‚ but if the figures come out even worse than expected we will really see the Rand suffer. The Rand this morning has also been victim to a stronger Dollar. As a result we can expect speculators to hunt for stocks which will make the Rand weaker‚ possibly below R9.30/$. This also depends on what happens to the Euro today.”
Current ZAR Exchange Rates
The South African Rand to Euro exchange rate is currently trading at 0.0832
The South African Rand to US Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 0.1078
The South African Rand to Pound Sterling exchange rate is currently trading at 0.0722
The South African Rand to Australian Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 0.1042
The South African Rand to New Zealand Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 0.1318
The South African Rand to Canadian Dollar exchange rate is currently trading at 0.1108
These exchange rates were correct as of 11:30am GMT
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