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Johannesburg - The rand fell more than 1.7% to a fresh three week low against the dollar on Wednesday as Europe's debt problems kept investors wary of risk and local oil importers bought dollars.
Government bonds also had a tough session, frustrated by the weak rand and local selling at the front end of the curve. Stocks closed slightly lower, tracking US markets weaker after the release of trade deficit figures for the United States.
South African shares took heart from better-than-expected manufacturing numbers earlier in the session but some analysts said the data showed the sector was in a hesitant recovery and the outlook for the rest of the year was uncertain.
The rand currency fell to 6.855 against the dollar, its weakest in three weeks, from Tuesday's New York close of 6.7353.
"We have seen some oil importers today so the rand market was a little bit short of dollars and we're now seeing the results of that," said David Gracey, trader as Investec.
He said the rand was also reacting to a slight sell-off in the gold price, softer US equity markets and the weaker euro.
The volatile rand is retracing a three-year high of 6.5410 touched early last week, giving up 3% to current levels.
Government bonds also had a tough session, frustrated by the weak rand and local selling at the front end of the curve. Stocks closed slightly lower, tracking US markets weaker after the release of trade deficit figures for the United States.
South African shares took heart from better-than-expected manufacturing numbers earlier in the session but some analysts said the data showed the sector was in a hesitant recovery and the outlook for the rest of the year was uncertain.
The rand currency fell to 6.855 against the dollar, its weakest in three weeks, from Tuesday's New York close of 6.7353.
"We have seen some oil importers today so the rand market was a little bit short of dollars and we're now seeing the results of that," said David Gracey, trader as Investec.
He said the rand was also reacting to a slight sell-off in the gold price, softer US equity markets and the weaker euro.
The volatile rand is retracing a three-year high of 6.5410 touched early last week, giving up 3% to current levels.
