Rand breaches R13.60/$ as emerging market pressure mounts

Cape Town - The rand has breached R13.60 to the US dollar on Tuesday morning as the dollar remained resilient after gaining ground against a basket of currencies on Monday.

Emerging markets are getting sold off this morning with USDZAR leading the charge, said TreasuryOne in a snap note to clients.

"Turkey, Mexico, etc all weaker with the major currencies like JPY and EUR also slightly softer.

"Commodities are also off a tad with platinum below $900 and gold testing below $1 210 again. The is no specific reason for the risk off scenario we find ourselves in," said TreasuryOne.

By 09:42 on Tuesday, the local unit was trading at R13.63/$ after weakening 12c shortly after the local open at R13.44. It closed at R13.48 against the greenback in overnight trading in New York.

Wichard Cilliers, lead currency dealer at TreasuryOne, said the rand is trading weaker than the rest because of the liquidity that is available.

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