adminJOHANNEBURG — The rand was weaker yesterday morning with little in the way of data locally or abroad to give it direction. At 8.20AM, the rand was at R10,6615 against the dollar from a close of R10,6259 on Monday.
Against the euro, the rand was at R14,2490 from its previous close of R14,2201 and was at R17,8650 to the pound from R17,8290 previously.
The euro was at $1,3364 from a Monday close of $1,3384.
Barclays Research said in an early morning note on Tuesday that Monday’s rand short-covering was due to reduced geopolitical tension between Ukraine and Russia. This caused safe-haven assets, including the dollar, gold and US Treasuries, to lose their appeal as market volatility declined.
“Looking ahead, we would expect the rand to continue taking its cue from global risk appetite, which implies that if geopolitical risks continue to ease, then further rand strength could be expected ahead of tomorrow’s local and US retail sales data.
“We think that the risk lies in a subdued local retail sales print and an upbeat US print, which collectively would be rand negative,” said Barclays.
The rand is expected to remain well entrenched within a R10,46- R10,86 to the dollar range for the time being. — Bdlive.
Online Reporter