Johannesburg - The rand was trading softer on Thursday afternoon as it continued its
downward trend from Wednesday‚ with the market in a wait-and-see mode
ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) announcement on Thursday.
Expectations are that more monetary stimulus will be announced by
the Fed. The decision is expected at 4.30pm GMT and chairman Ben
Bernanke is expected to address the media two hours later.
“The rand was relatively quiet compared to yesterday‚ reaching a
low of R8.44 today‚ with local oil companies seen buying dollars from
local banks‚” a trader said.
At 4.09pm‚ the rand was bid at R8.3535 to the dollar from R8.3216
at Wednesday’s close. It was bid at R10.7656 to the euro from its
previous close of R10.7433 and at R13.4388 against sterling from
R13.4069 before. The euro was bid at $1.2894 from $1.2901 at Wednesday’s
close.