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May 27 2012 11:21
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May 27 2012 13:09
The oversupply of golf estates has claimed another victim.
Johannesburg - The rand was softer against the dollar on
Tuesday as concerns over Greece’s debt problems put a dampener on global risk
appetite and caused emerging market currencies to reverse some of the gains
they posted in January.
The rand was little moved by data showing the Reserve Bank
used a weaker dollar in January to boost its foreign exchange reserves although
analysts said this should be positive for the currency in the long term.
By 07:23 GMT the rand was at R7.5636 against the dollar, down
0.29% from Monday’s closing level of R7.5420.
“I think we’re going to have a range probably of R7.56 -
R7.66 for the day to start up with but I still think we’re going to see some
import demand at the lower part of that range,” RMB trader Lee Naisbitt said.
The rand staged a strong rally in January, culminating in a
5-month high of R7.5220 last week. The currency has gained about 6% against the
greenback since the start of the year, reversing part of its 23% loss in 2011.
“I think it’s going to start struggling at these levels
because we’ve done a lot these past couple of weeks,” Naisbitt said.
Government bonds have also been taking a breather after a
strong run in January and yields have pulled back from recent three-month lows.
On Tuesday the yield on the 2015 bond was flat at 6.51%
while that for the 2026 issue edged up one basis point to 8.175%.