Money SA economy
The rand tracked a soft euro in the morning session on Friday amid jittery global markets following Wall Street's plummet overnight and the continuing Greek crisis.
At 9am the rand was bid at R7.81 to the dollar from R7.74 at its previous close. It was bid at R9.89 to the euro and R11.44 to the pound. The euro was bid at $1.2664 from $1.2626 previously.
"A local trader said: "The Dow was the nail in the coffin for any hope of stable markets. The euro continues to come under pressure which in turn could see the rand push through 7.85-90 against the dollar."
RMB analysts said in their morning report that yesterday's market freefall might have been exacerbated by algorithmic trading, computer glitches or human error on Wall Street but it is important to note that the euro collapse came before any equity move (US equities dropped 9%, with most of the adjustment coming in a 10-minute period, before recovering to close down a still large 3% while euro/US dollar dropped to under 1.26).
"As such, there is no getting away from the fact that the Greek problems remain central to the market outlook. Whatever the case, the key point is that the entire market is going to be exceptionally nervous and volatile today.”
