Rand hits R15 to the dollar as international factors hit
The rand passed R15 to the dollar on Wednesday (25 September) as a number of international factors weighed on the local currency.
According to Bianca Botes, treasury partner at Peregrine Treasury Solutions, the announcement that the United States House of Representatives will launch a formal impeachment inquiry against US President Donald Trump is eroding global market sentiment.
“At the same time, a spike in the gold price correlated with the erosion of risk appetite and a broader emerging-market selloff has seen the rand weakening by over 1%, to trade at R15.03 to the dollar,” she said.
“The uncertainty in the UK, where Boris Johnson is being called upon to step down, is adding fuel to the fire following the court ruling that the suspension of parliament was unlawful.”
While these international factors add up, the looming banking strike in the local market is having a minimal impact – if any – on the rand, said Botes.
“If one considers the EUR/USD move, coupled with the rally in gold prices, the rand weakening is largely being driven by global risk-off sentiment,” she said.
The rand was trading at the following levels against the major currencies at 15h50 on Wednesday:
- ZAR / USD: 15.00 (1.00%)
- ZAR / GBP: 18.58 (0.08%)
- ZAR / EUR: 16.49 (0.66%)
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