Rand waits for rates decision

The rand remained resilient this morning despite US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's semi-annual testimony to the Congress on Wednesday and now the market is shifting its focus to the Reserve Bank's decision on interest rates at 15:00 today.

At 08.52am local time the rand was bid at R7.53 to the dollar, R9.63 to the euro and R11.44 to the pound. The euro was bid at $1.2759 from $1.2767 overnight.

A trader said the rand held up well and stayed resilient after Bernanke's testimony on Wednesday.

"The rand did not sell-off aggressively after Bernanke's address and it is expected to be range-bound ahead of the MPC meeting," the trader said. RMB analysts said Bernanke indicated the Fed is ready to "take action if needed" and will keep rates low for an "extended period of time". They said this "is fine and well", but the markets wanted more concrete action.

Dow Jones Newswires reported that the US dollar fell to a one-week low against the yen in Asia on Thursday as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's bearish remarks overnight made investors wary of the direction of the US economy.