Johannesburg – The rand maintained a
softer bias in late trade‚ although coming off its worst level
against the US dollar‚ as traders awaited the Federal Open Market
Committee’s (FOMC) minutes.
At 15:53 local time the rand was
trading at R8.3036 to the dollar from Tuesday’s close of R8.2516.
It was trading at R10.3614 to the euro from its previous close of
R10.2819 and at R13.1114 against sterling from R13.0152 before.
The euro was bid at $1.2475 from
yesterday’s close of $1.2468.
Absa Capital analysts said in a note
that they expected the rand to recover against all of SA’s main
trade partner currencies due to further monetary stimulus out of
Europe; more encouraging US data; and an influx of portfolio capital
into the SA bond market.
“Given that we expect trade-weighted
rand strength over the coming months‚ we believe that exporters
should look to lock in some of their hard-currency proceeds‚ while
importers should exercise patience.”