Johannesburg – The rand strengthened slightly in the afternoon on Wednesday as traders eye the medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) on Thursday.
“All the local currency traders are keeping an eye on tomorrow’s MTBPS. The higher than expected inflation data caused the rand to weaken when it came out‚ but it seemed to have clawed itself back‚” said Lynden Reabow‚ an FX sales trader from PSG Prime.
At 15:31‚ the rand was bid at R8.7441/$ from Tuesday’s close of R8.7595. It was bid at R11.3446/€ from its previous close of R11.3651 and at R14.0152 against sterling from R13.9574 before.
The euro was bid at $1.2971 from Tuesday’s close of $1.2982.
“The inflation data may indicate that Gill Marcus is unlikely to cut rates next month. We have also been taking some direction from the euro‚ which has been a little weaker in the last couple of days‚” Reabow added.