The rand was weaker against the dollar in late trade on Wednesday as police fired tear gas on protesting miners at Amplats’ Rustenburg operations.
“The rand started off well this morning on the back of the Lonmin resolution yesterday. However‚ police firing tear gas at other striking miners at other mines is causing concerns amongst investors and thus the retracement of the rand to higher levels‚” said Mark Kalkwarf‚ a senior portfolio manager from the Iquad Group.
At 3.15pm‚ the rand was bid at R8.2318 to the dollar from R8.1825 at Tuesday’s close. It was bid at R10.7174 to the euro from its previous close of R10.6764 and at R13.3406 against sterling from R13.2862 before.
The euro was bid at $1.3027 from $1.3042 at Tuesday’s close.
“The other reason for the weaker rand is the euro’s weakness‚ which is due to renewed concerns about Spain. Investors are worried that they are going to ask for more funding‚” Kalkwarf said.
Bonds slip from best level on rand
The South African bond market slipped from its morning best level in afternoon trade on Wednesday on a weaker rand.
“We are still firmer relative to Tuesday‚ but off our best levels as the rand gave up some of its recent gains‚” a local bond trader said.
At 3.44pm‚ the benchmark R157 bond was trading at 5.410 percent from its best level of 5.360 percent and 5.420 percent at Tuesday’s close. The R207 was bid at 6.450 percent and offered at 6.430 percent from Tuesday’s close of 6.490 percent‚ and the R186 was trading at 7.470 percent from 7.510 percent at its previous close.
SAA denied rumours that its acting chief executive Nico Bezuidenhout had lied about his qualifications.
Thousands of farmers have applied to employ foreign workers after the introduction of a new minimum wage.
The rand plunged to its weakest level against the dollar in close to four years on Thursday.
