Johannesburg – The rand exhibited a firmer bias in late trade on Friday ahead of the long weekend.
Monday is a public holiday in SA.
At 16:07 local time‚ the rand was bid at R8.2513 to the dollar from R8.30 at Thursday’s close. It was bid at R10.7192 to the euro from its previous close of R10.7681 and at R13.4215 against sterling from R13.4598 before.
The euro was bid at $1.30 from $1.2970 at Thursday’s close.
RMB analysts said in a note that global factors had been extremely positive for the rand. The factors related to the US Federal Reserve’s introduction of QE3‚ the European Central Bank’s planned bond buying programme and the German Constitutional court’s approval of the EU bailout fund.
“Euro/dollar has risen to a six-month high and global equities to levels not seen since the crisis. Despite these positive effects the rand has lagged‚ negatively affected by the poor second quarter current account deficit and the mine violence. (The) dollar/rand remains trapped within a 8.05 – 8.55 range. Euro/dollar and the other crosses have pushed up because all other currencies have gained against the US dollar. The rand has lagged other high-yielding and emerging market currencies sharply. We continue to expect moderate rand strength this year‚ looking for dollar/rand 7.80 by year-end.”