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Feb 13 2012 12:15
Miner Xstrata says it has brought forward maintenance on two furnaces to assist Eskom to save power.
Feb 13 2012 10:43
Although jobs were created, the economy is still 420 000 jobs short of the peak employment level before the 2009 global financial crisis, says Adcorp.
Feb 13 2012 07:58
Greek lawmakers have approved a new round of drastic austerity measures after a long day of street battles between police and protesters left dozens injured.
Johannesburg - The South African rand firmed in afternoon trade on Wednesday after tracking a stronger euro against the dollar, which has begun to buckle under increasing amounts of disappointing economic data.
At 15:28 local time the rand was bid at R7.3125 to the dollar from R7.3700 at the previous close. It was bid at R9.3922 to the euro from R9.3506 before and at R11.3020 against sterling from R11.3072 at its previous close.
The euro was bid at $1.2834 from $1.2685 overnight.
A local dealer said: "We are seeing selling interest at R7.30-32 against the dollar. A strengthening euro has put the dollar under pressure, along with some weak US data."
Dow Jones Newswires reports that the dollar slumped against its higher-yielding peers Wednesday after better-than-expected global manufacturing data encouraged investors to dip into currencies closely tied to global growth.
Weaker-than-expected US jobs data reported early on Wednesday failed to dent positive investor sentiment, which sent the Australian dollar soaring nearly 1.75% against the dollar and the euro up more than 1.2% against the US currency.
"Today's (US jobs) news kind of lends itself to a US-specific kind of underperformance, an almost US unique problem," said Chris Turner, head of foreign exchange strategy at ING Financial Markets in London.
The Automatic Data Processing (ADP) and consultancy Macroeconomic Advisers job survey showed US private-sector businesses laid off 10 000 workers in August, much worse than the weak gain of 17 000 expected by economists.
The worse-than-expected jobs data weakened the dollar, which has been weighed down recently by weakening US data, which investors worry could be an indication of a stumbling economic recovery.
Still, positive global data ruled currency markets, with figures showing China's manufacturing activity expanded in August, helping to soothe investor nerves that had been jangled by fears that global growth was slowing.
Australia also reported economic growth was at its fastest quarterly pace in three years in the second quarter of 2010.
The euro also gained sharply against the dollar, jumping about 1.25% after eurozone manufacturing PMI remained in expansionary territory. The disappointing US jobs data sent the euro to a near two-week high against the dollar.