With the weekend approaching and US employment data looming, the Rand was trading in a fairly tight range against the US Dollar and was little changed against the Pound having posted modest gains against its peers yesterday.
At the current exchange rate 1 Pound will purchase 16.0130 South African Rand as of 12:25 GMT
Hopes that the gold sector strike might soon be resolved supported the commodity-driven asset against its counterparts, but the expectation that today’s US non-farm payrolls data will add to the case for the Federal Reserve tapering stimulus restricted Rand movement.
The GBP/ZAR exchange rate hit a high of 15.9862 Rand per Pound
80,000 workers in the gold sector have been on strike since Tuesday, but with a revised wage offer being made they could be returning to work earlier than expected.
However, any positive impact on the Rand is likely to be limited given the importance of the Federal Reserve’s stimulus tapering timeline. While many industry experts are currently expecting that quantitative easing will be reined in this month, a disappointing employment report could completely change the state of play.
According to one local trader ‘The jobs data are of such importance that they preclude the taking of large positions this morning […] the release of the August foreign reserves has had no impact at all so far.’
Data compiled by the Reserve Bank of South Africa showed that the central bank’s dollar-denominated holdings of gold and foreign assets climbed in August to 47.947 billion Dollars. The increase in the Dollar gold price was largely credited as the reason for the rise in gross reserves.
As the European session progressed the Rand was able to post a modest gain against the Pound as the British currency softened for the first time in several days after a report revealed a surprising decline in UK exports.
With US non-farm payrolls out at 13:30, significant market volatility is likely to occur before the weekend.
Current South African (ZAR) Exchange Rates:
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The US Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 10.2065 >
The Pound Sterling/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 15.8835 >
The Euro/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 13.3943 >
The Australian Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of: 9.3126 >
The New Zealand Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently in the region of 8.0770 >
The Canadian Dollar/South African Rand Exchange Rate is currently trading in the region of 9.7115 <
(Correct as of 11:00 GMT)
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