The rand was around four cents firmer against the US dollar in early trade on Wednesday in a repetition of a pattern seen in early trade on Tuesday.
“It seems to be a pattern. We see early strength and then demand takes it back to 9,27-9,28. But there has been an exporter in the market this morning,” said a rand trader.
He added that the rand was range trading between 9,18 and 9,28 at the moment.
The rand reached its best level this year of 9,0585 rand per dollar on November 26, but profit taking and a stronger dollar saw the rand trade near 9,30 for most of last week. As recently as November 21 it traded above 9,70.
At 0845 local time the rand was quoted at 9,2180 to the dollar compared with Tuesday’s close of 9,2640.
The local unit was also stronger against other major currencies. Against the British pound it was at 14,4831 from the previous close of 14,5526, while it stood at 9,2075 to the euro from 9,2261 before. – I-Net Bridge