Johannesburg | Wednesday
THE gold price surged on South African markets while the country’s currency plunged in a panic selling of rands to buy bullion following the attacks on the United States, market analysts said Tuesday.
Gold opened trade on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange at 271,15 dollars an ounce but rocketed to a high of 289,9 shortly it was first reported that hijacked aircraft had crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York.
South African markets closed at 4:00 pm (14H00 GMT), about an hour after the attacks began, said trader Neil Stacey at Johannesburg-based brokerage Cazenove.
“There was pure panic. The gold price went through the roof and stocks have plunged,” he said.
At close of markets, gold was trading at 286 dollars, Stacey said.
The South African currency dropped sharply against the dollar to hit a new all time low of 8,61 at close of markets on Tuesday.
The currency had opened at 8,52 to the greenback on Tuesday morning but lost nine cents to the US currency after the attacks.
The rand also dropped from 12,35 to 12,66 to the pound sterling and from 7,66 to 7,85 to the euro.
Traders said the rand weakened to the dollar as traders sold off the South African currency to buy dollars which they would use to buy gold. – AFP