The rand held steady on Friday morning‚ but still set for a stronger close to a week dominated by offshore developments.
The local currency has gained at least 1% against the dollar so far this week‚ on track to log its fourth weekly gain.
TreasuryOne dealer Phillip Pearce said the currency’s gains were a function of SA’s bonds again becoming flavour of the moment‚ “as foreigners have a keen interest in the yield they offer”‚ amid “considerable dollar weakness”.
The rand showed little reaction to European Central Bank president Mario Draghi’s remarks on Thursday‚ suggesting that the ECB could announce plans in October to taper its stimulus programme.
As a result‚ the euro strengthened to the dollar‚ but some of the leading benchmark government bond yields dropped‚ suggesting a level of uncertainty in the market about the future monetary policy in the euro area.
Pearce said tapering the stimulus programme in the eurozone would be rand-negative‚ as it meant monetary policy would tighten.
At 9.21am‚ the rand was at R12.7947 to the dollar from R12.7980‚ at R15.4331 to the euro from R15.3813‚ and at R16.8107 from R16.7657 to the pound.
The euro was at $1.2062 from $1.1202
by Andries Mahlangu -BusinessLIVE
