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Johannesburg - The rand weakened sharply against US dollar
on Monday from last week’s rally after Japanese authorities intervened to
weaken their currency, sending the dollar to a 3-month high.
Growth in credit demand from South Africa’s private sector
slowed to 5.47% year-on-year in September from 6.06% in August, strengthening
the case for lower interest rates for longer to boost the recovery in Africa’s
biggest economy.
However, money supply, the broadly defined M3 measure,
accelerated to 6.8% year-on-year compared with 6.22% in August, according to
central bank data released at 06:00 GMT.
The rand traded at R7.8395 to the dollar at 06:46 GMT,
1.31%t weaker than Friday’s close of R7.73.
“It primarily seems to be driven by the large move in the
euro/dollar and also on the back of the Japanese intervention. That seems to be
the main driver,” said Leon Myburgh, Sub-Saharan Africa Strategist at Citi.
Government bonds weakened in line with the weaker rand, with the yield on the benchmark four-year bond up 3 basis points at 6.59% and that on the longer-dated 2026 paper up 4 basis points at 8.25%.
