During the local session a surprise revision to South Africa’s trade deficit data bolstered the Rand and helped it hit its strongest level against the US Dollar for over a week.
The Pound Sterling/Rand exchange rate is currently in the region of 16.4009 as of 10:55 GMT
The South African asset also rallied against several of its other rivals as the nation’s trade deficit for the first three quarters of 2013 was slashed in half as import/export data was reassessed.
Once a trade surplus of 61.9 billion Rand with nations like Namibia and Swaziland was taken into account the deficit from January to September was cut from 126.4 billion Rand to 64.5 billion Rand.
In the aftermath of the data publication the Rand surged by 1 per cent against the US Dollar and economist Carmen Nel commented; ‘The extent of the revision to the SARS data would at least be positive for the Rand and therefore the local fixed-income market. It will not improve the current-account deficit enough to ensure that South Africa is not viewed as a twin deficit economy.’
The GBP/ZAR exchange rate hit a low of 16.2594 Rand per Pound
While this result lifted the Rand and helped the emerging market asset gain on rivals like the US Dollar and Euro, the Pound was still heading for a weekly gain having rallied earlier in the week in response to the Bank of England’s hawkish inflation report.
As UK economic data is predominately topping estimates at the moment and unemployment is declining more rapidly than expected, industry experts are now forecasting that the BoE will increase interest rates earlier than initially forecast.
According to currency strategist Ulrich Leuchtmann; ‘We have seen such a strong move in the Pound this week. The strength is justified by the improvement in the economic performance and I think over the medium term, it can continue.’
Next week South African data to look out for includes Tuesday’s business confidence figures and Wednesday’s inflation report.
Fluctuations in the GBP/ZAR pairing could also occur in response to the publication of minutes from the latest Bank of England policy meeting and UK public finances figures.
Current South African (ZAR) Exchange Rates:
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The US Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 10.1600 >
The Pound Sterling/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 16.4009 >
The Euro/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 13.6763 >
The Australian Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 9.4394 <
The New Zealand Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of 8.4992 <
The Canadian Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently trading in the region of 9.7449 <
(Correct as of 10:55 GMT)
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