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Johannesburg - The rand was weaker against the dollar on Wednesday after Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan presented the 2014 budget to parliament and as emerging market currencies came under pressure.
The rand was at R10.8150 to the dollar at 15:35 GMT, down 0.8% from Tuesday's New York close.
Presenting a R1.3trn budget on Wednesday ahead of May 7 elections, Gordhan cut this year's growth forecast to 2.7% and trimmed the deficit forecast to 4.0% of GDP for 2014/15, from 4.1% seen in October .
The rand and government bonds weakened marginally after the speech, which set off no alarm bells. Rand Merchant Bank trader Jim Bryson said the softness of the rand was more in line with the Turkish lira, which fell on Wednesday amid concerns about political instability.
"The lower growth was pretty much expected. I don't think the budget per se caused this," he said. "If you look at the Turkish lira, that's also weakened today as well.
"For the budget to move the spot is quite unusual. I don't think we said enough to affect our ratings. It was more neutral than anything else for the currency."
The yield on the 2026 government bond was 0.5 basis points lower at 8.54% while that on the 2015 paper inched up 0.5 basis points to 7.115%.
The rand was at R10.8150 to the dollar at 15:35 GMT, down 0.8% from Tuesday's New York close.
Presenting a R1.3trn budget on Wednesday ahead of May 7 elections, Gordhan cut this year's growth forecast to 2.7% and trimmed the deficit forecast to 4.0% of GDP for 2014/15, from 4.1% seen in October .
The rand and government bonds weakened marginally after the speech, which set off no alarm bells. Rand Merchant Bank trader Jim Bryson said the softness of the rand was more in line with the Turkish lira, which fell on Wednesday amid concerns about political instability.
"The lower growth was pretty much expected. I don't think the budget per se caused this," he said. "If you look at the Turkish lira, that's also weakened today as well.
"For the budget to move the spot is quite unusual. I don't think we said enough to affect our ratings. It was more neutral than anything else for the currency."
The yield on the 2026 government bond was 0.5 basis points lower at 8.54% while that on the 2015 paper inched up 0.5 basis points to 7.115%.
