25 Apr 2013

Rand at best level in seven weeks

I-Net Bridge

Johannesburg - The rand was firmer at noon‚ at its best level to the US dollar in about seven weeks‚ on a combination of firmer commodity prices and worse than expected producer price index (PPI) for March.

“The firmer precious metal prices are providing a solid underpin while the PPI data reduces interest rate cut hopes‚” said Mike Keenan‚ analyst at Absa Capital.

At 12:15‚ the rand was bid at R9.0773/$ from R9.1239 at Wednesday’s close and R9.2035 at Tuesday’s close.

The local currency was bid at R11.8616/ from its previous close of R11.8694 and at R14.0063 against sterling from R13.9238 before.

The euro was bid at $1.3063 from $1.3014 at Wednesday’s close and $1.3001 at Tuesday’s close.

The annual percentage change in the PPI for final manufactured goods for March was 5.7% year on year (y/y) compared with 5.4% y/y and 5.8% y/y in February and January respectively‚ Statistics SA figures showed on Thursday.

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