A surprisingly dovish statement from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke helped the Rand extend gains against the US Dollar overnight.
At the current exchange rate 1 Pound will purchase 15.0089 South African Rand as of 14:15 GMT
However, while the Rand continued to trade below the physiological 10 Rand per US Dollar level and hit a week-high it failed to strengthen through key support levels.
As one local trader stated: ‘The big move was overnight as when our market was still active, the Rand was above R10. Now we are targeting the R9.78 level, but unless we break through that, we are still in the range we have been in for the past six weeks.’
But during the local session the Rand weakened against the Pound as South African manufacturing output climbed by less than forecast.
The GBP/ZAR exchange rate hit a high of 15.1637 Rand per Pound
Although economists had expected manufacturing production to climb by 2.9 per cent in May (year-on-year) it actually only gained by 2.2 per cent following a revised 7.1 per cent increase in April.
According to economist Peter Attard Montalto: ‘Slowing export demand plus a slowing domestic demand still into midyear are behind the move. Overall we think this number is pretty neutral for the Reserve Bank of South Africa Monetary Policy Committee view – they are concerned about the larger issues here, like the impact of a Chinese slowdown on South Africa and the impact of slower credit growth domestically.’
In the three months to May manufacturing production was up 0.9 per cent compared to the previous three months.
After the domestic data the Rand continued to trade below 10 Rand per Dollar.
Current South African (ZAR) Exchange Rates
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The US Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 9.9400 <
The Pound Sterling/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 15.0089 >
The Euro/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 12.9795 >
The Australian Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 9.1879 >
The New Zealand Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of 7.8532 >
The Canadian Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently trading in the region of 9.5768 >
(Correct as of 14:15 GMT)
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