Johannesburg – The rand weakened before noon on Wednesday as international traders fear the spread of ongoing unrest in SA into other sectors of the economy.
“The local currency is experiencing negative sentiment due to continued unrest‚ which is threatening to spread into other sectors of the country. This is creating uncertainty amongst foreign investors as it shows the country is not in a good place‚ economically‚ at the moment‚” Vunani Capital global markets analyst Kuziva Muganiwa said.
At 11:43‚ the rand was bid at R8.8315/$ from Tuesday’s close of R8.7848. The local currency was bid at R11.2563 to the euro from its previous close of R11.1575 and at R14.0364 against sterling from R13.9307 before.
The euro was bid at $1.2743 from Tuesday’s close of $1.2708.
“The rand was stronger this morning due to a stronger euro caused by the bond sale in Greece and higher commodity prices‚ but weakened on further news of unrest throughout SA‚” Muganiwa said.