Money SA economy
A firm South African rand looked to test 7.31 against the greenback on Wednesday, shrugging off a weaker euro amid positive local data.
At 8.57am the rand was bid at R7.34 to the dollar from R7.35 at its previous close. It was bid at R9.86 to the euro and R11.05 to the pound. The euro was bid at $1.3422 from $1.3424 previously.
A local trader said: "The local currency appears to be doing its own thing at the moment with some positive local data about."
RMB analysts said in their morning report that Eurozone problems are still very evident as Greece's fresh attempt to tap the bond market failed miserably yesterday while Ireland's bank bail-out might end up costing the state an extra 32bn - equivalent to 20% of GDP. "The euro's incipient rally then reversed, with euro/US dollar falling back from 1.35 to 1.34.
"US dollar/rand has been slow to respond but while yesterday's bias was to the downside, today's should be to the topside as we return to the low 7.40s - implying we end the quarter almost exactly where we started," the analysts said.
RMB pointed to February trade numbers out later, which it said, should continue the trend of positive local data following yesterday's February budget figures. "We expect a R1bn surplus on the back of strong exports.”
Dow Jones Newswires reported aggressive dollar buying by Japanese institutional investors sent the currency to a two-month-high against the yen in Asia Wednesday as they expect US share prices and interest rates to continue rising in the coming days.
