Money SA economy
The South African rand rallied in the afternoon session on Wednesday, eyeing 7.20 versus the greenback, with a local trader citing the US Federal Reserve's interest rates policy statement on Tuesday as the prime catalyst.
At 3.41pm the rand was bid at R7.28 to the dollar, R10.00 to the euro and R11.14 to the pound. The euro was bid at $1.3748 from $1.3766 previously.
A local currency trader said: "You can call it a rally for the rand, purely on the back of the Fed Reserve's statement on Tuesday. 7.25 is the next target against the dollar and then 7.20," he said.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that the dollar is mixed but mostly lower Wednesday morning with the pound outperforming after some unexpectedly robust domestic jobs data.
The pound was propelled higher after the UK government reported that the number of people claiming unemployment benefits fell 32,200 last month, the largest drop since November 1997.
"That's really the big move for the day, I suppose," said Adam Cole, chief currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets in London.
The greenback was modestly lower against most other currencies as the US Federal Reserve's policy statement on Tuesday continued to influence the tone for currency trading into the new session.
