Johannesburg – The rand weakened at midday on Tuesday as
strikes spread into other sectors in SA‚ with traders worried that the local
currency could test the R9.00 mark against the dollar.
“We are a little bit crazy at the moment‚ the rand has
weakened tremendously. This is due to stops being triggered and the continued
strike actions in SA‚” said Lynden Reabow‚ FX sales trader at PSG Prime.
At 12:02pm‚ the rand was bid at R8.6398 to the dollar from
R8.4952 at Thursday’s close. It was bid at R11.2352 to the euro from its
previous close of R11.0614 and at R13.9846 against sterling from R13.7544
before.
The euro was bid at $1.3011 from $1.3016 at Thursday’s
close.
“We are very close to the yearly low of R8.78 against the
dollar‚ if we break that we could see the rand go through the R9.00 mark‚”
Reabow said.
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