After trading in a comparatively narrow range against the majority of its peers in recent days, the Rand broadly softened as encouraging US industrial/manufacturing production reports renewed speculation surrounding tomorrow’s Federal Open Market Committee announcement.
The Pound Sterling/Rand exchange rate is currently in the region of 16.7145 as of 10:00 GMT
Although South African data is thin on the ground this week the Rand eased lower against the Pound as 34 per cent of economists bet that the Fed will opt to trim the current level of asset purchases by at least 5 billion Dollars.
The GBP/ZAR exchange rate hit a low of 16.6493 Rand per Pound
As strategic researcher Mohammed Nalla observed; ‘All eyes in the financial markets this week are on the outcome of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting. Hopefully the outcome of this will provide the clarity the markets have been seeking.’
The Rand also slipped against the Pound as the British currency advanced for the first time in five-days ahead of the release of UK inflation figures.
Later in the European session Sterling was supported by the news that UK house prices jumped by 5.5 per cent in October, year-on-year, rather than increasing the 4.1 per cent expected.
UK inflation also unexpectedly slowed to a four-year low last month, edging closer towards the 2 per cent target set by the Bank of England.
Although economists expected consumer prices to rise by 2.2 per cent in November from the same period of the previous year they actually advanced by 2.1 per cent following a month-on-month gain of 0.1 per cent which was smaller than forecast.
While US developments are likely to be the main cause of market movement in the week ahead, GBP/ZAR fluctuations could also be driven by UK employment, retail sales and GDP reports.
Current South African (ZAR) Exchange Rates:
< Down > Up
The US Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 10.2430 >
The Pound Sterling/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 16.7145 >
The Euro/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 14.1549 >
The Australian Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 9.1964 >
The New Zealand Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of 8.5245 <
The Canadian Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently trading in the region of 9.6842 >
(Correct as of 10:00 GMT)
Comments are closed.