Rand Weakens with Commodities on US Growth Forecast June 23rd, 2011

The South African rand fell today for the second day as commodities weakened after the Federal Reserve slashed its US growth forecast.
The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Index of raw materials fell for the first day in three and gold and platinum, which makes up 20 percent of the South African exports, dropped. The FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index, the nation’s benchmark stock index, went down 0.8 percent. The Fed estimated this year’s growth to be 2.7 percent to 2.9 percent, compared to the April forecast of 3.1 percent to 3.3 percent.
USD/ZAR rose from 6.7610 to 6.8220 today as of 10:47 GMT.
If you have any questions, comments or opinions regarding the South African Rand, feel free to post them using the commentary form below.

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9:04 AM | 0 comments

South African Rand Falls on Greek Crisis, Trims Losses June 20th, 2011

The South African rand dropped today as the disagreement of the European Union leaders about the bailout for Greece reduced appeal of riskier currencies, but erased most of its losses after the European politician assured that they will help Greece.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, said that the sovereign-debt crisis won’t spread to Italy. According to Juncker, George Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece, claimed that he’ll do any measures necessary to receive the aid. Anyway, renewed concerns the debt crisis sapped strength of higher-yielding currencies, including the rand.
USD/ZAR traded near 6.7510 as of 16:41 GMT today after surging from 6.7430 to 6.8040.

If you have any questions, comments or opinions regarding the South African Rand, feel free to post them using the commentary form below.

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11:22 AM | 0 comments