The rand was little changed on Monday morning and the trading pattern was unlikely to change drastically because of a partial public holiday in the US.
The rand changed hands to the dollar at R13.75‚ after logging its fifth consecutive weekly loss to the greenback last week.
Win Thin‚ global head of emerging market currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman‚ said the rand and the Turkish lira‚ in particular‚ could weaken further if this week’s US retail sales and inflation data came out better than expected.
On Friday markets viewed the mixed US nonfarm payrolls report in a positive light. The US economy unexpectedly shed jobs in September‚ but a strong rise in wages backed the case for a potential rise in interest rates.
The weaker rand and a rising Brent crude oil price could put upward pressure on inflation‚ which the Reserve Bank expects to average 5.3% in 2017.
At 9.26am‚ the rand was at R13.7674 to the dollar from R13.7551‚ at R16.1430 to the euro from R16.1399 and at R18.0654 to the pound from R18.0264.
The euro was at $1.1726 from $1.1736.
by Andries Mahlangu -BusinessLIVE
