Rand weakens after reaching one-month high on Tuesday
The rand was weaker on Monday morning, while consumer inflation moderated more than analysts’ expectations in September.
The rand pared gains on Wednesday after coming off a one-month high that was bolstered by optimism regarding the US-China trade talks.
“For as long as US-China trade negotiations remain cordial, the risk of a further erosion of global growth is contained,” RMB analyst Nema Ramkhelawan-Bhana said.
News that the National Assembly passed the Special Appropriations Bill — which entails a R59bn bailout for Eskom — earlier supported the rand which strengthened to as much as R14.57/$ intraday trade on Wednesday.
At 11.16am, the rand weakened 0.64% to R14.6815/$, after closing at R14.58/$ on Tuesday. It had weakened 0.58% to R16.3246/€ and 0.51% to R18.8739/£. The euro was flat at $1.1119.
Gold was up 0.44% to $1,494/oz and platinum 0.26% to $893.61/oz. Brent crude lost 0.94% to $59.04 a barrel.
Inflation decelerated to an annualised 4.1% in September from 4.3% in August, data from Statistics SA showed on Wednesday.
The median forecast was for inflation to remain at 4.3% according to a Bloomberg poll.
Source: businesslive.co.za