A rampant rand continued to clock up gains against major currencies on Thursday morning and was trading below 8,20 per dollar just before noon. The rand has not seen these levels since July 30, 2001, and currency traders said the rand looked to strengthen further.
At 1141, the rand was trading at 8,1914 to the dollar from a New York close of 8,2960. It was over 13 cents stronger against sterling at 13,1234 from a previous 13,2550. The rand had gained almost seven cents against the euro and was quoted at 8,8347 from Wednesday’s 8,9127.
The euro was quoted at $1,0766 from a previous $1,0747, while gold was quoted at $350,70 an ounce from a New York close of $349,45.
“The rand is looking quite strong. It has broken below the psychological 8,30 level where it was meeting resistance,” a currency trader said.
He continued that stop losses had been triggered, also helping the rand, while gold and the euro were also looking stronger. The trader said that while profit taking might briefly see the rand surrender some of its gains, the overall picture was positive for it. He saw the local unit strengthening to 8,15.67. – I-Net-Bridge