Money SA economy
The South African rand remained on the front foot in afternoon trade on Monday amid improved risk appetite and firm commodity prices as investors cast their attention to early trade on Wall Street.
At 15.32pm the rand was bid at R7.46 to the dollar, R9.24 to the euro and R11.05 to the pound. The euro was bid at $1.2378 from $1.2388 overnight.
"Markets have liked the Chinese move, we have seen some risk appetite creeping back into the markets, commodity prices have firmed, gold is looking strong, and the euro has moved higher.
"On the back of all that, the rand has firmed as a result, however lets wait and see how we get on as the US opens," a local dealer said.
Dow Jones Newswires reports that the US dollar fell sharply Monday against the Australian and New Zealand dollars, as currencies most closely tied to global growth benefited from China's weekend decision to allow greater flexibility in the yuan's exchange rate.
By New York morning trading, the euro and yen had given up the knee-jerk gains they had enjoyed on the back of the China decision, as investors turned away from a general bid higher in risky assets and took a second look at which currencies will most benefit from a higher yuan, said Daragh Maher, deputy head of global foreign exchange strategy at Credit Agricole CIB in London.
