Pound to South African Rand (GBP/ZAR) Exchange Rate – Pound beyond five-year high as Rand falls

Pound to South African Rand exchange rate chart

The South African Rand is trading not far off a six-year low against the Pound and a five-year low against the US Dollar

Investors expect this week’s US jobs and inflation data will increase the likelihood of the Federal Reserve continuing with its tapering of the monetary stimulus programme that benefited emerging market and commodity based currencies.

Recent positive data releases out of the US increased speculation that the world’s largest economy will be strong enough to shrug off the effects of a cut to the Feds quantitative easing programme.

“The Rand is weakening into continued broad-based Dollar strength as the US economy shows signs of improvement. US data confirmed the market’s expectation that tapering will continue in incremental steps of around $10 billion a month,” said a foreign-exchange strategist.

Wednesday saw the Rand receive some support following the release of retail sales data which came in above forecasts, easing some of the concerns over the state of the South African economy and increasing hopes that an economic recovery in the African continents biggest economy is gaining traction.

Gains were short-lived however as Mortgage data out of the US beat expectations, sending the Rand to a five-year low.

Sterling softened against the Euro and US Dollar after a report showed that UK house prices fell in December. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors house-price gauge fell to 56 from the previous month’s figure of 58 and was below economist expectations for a figure of 59. The disappointing data renews concerns that the UK economy may not be as strong as expected.

South African Rand (ZAR) Exchange Rates

[table width=”100%” colwidth=”50|50|50|50|50″ colalign=”left|left|left|left|left”]
Currency, ,Currency,Rate ,
Pound Sterling,,South African Rand,17.8240 ,
Euro,,South African Rand,14.8581 ,
US Dollar,,South African Rand,10.9076 ,
Australian Dollar,,South African Rand,9.5968 ,
New Zealand Dollar,,South African Rand,9.0674 ,
Canadian Dollar,,South African Rand,9.9746 ,
[/table]