JOHANNESBURG – The rand continued firmer in late trade on Monday‚ breaching the psychologically important R15/$ level‚ touching a four-week best of R14,9088/$ due to a softer dollar and unchanged ratings by Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings.
Dow Jones Newswires reported on Friday that US payrolls grew by just 38‚000 jobs last month‚ well below forecasts for more than 150‚000 new jobs.
Investors now await rating agency Fitch’s latest review on South Africa‚ due on Wednesday.
Fitch has South Africa on the same rating as S&P‚ though with a stable outlook.
At 3.34pm‚ the rand was at R14,9387/$ from R15,0845 on Friday.
It was at R16,9616 against the euro from R17,1321 previously‚ and at R21,5437 against the pound from R21.826.
The euro was at $1,1354‚ from $1,1357 previously.
Bidvest Bank analysts said the rand outperformed the bulk of the majors in the week ended June 3‚ notably the pound and dollar.
Last week‚ the rand advanced just more than 4% versus the dollar last week‚ largely owing to the greenback’s capitulation on Friday after the “sharply weaker” than expected US payrolls data‚ the analysts said.
The pound itself was at the bottom of the majors pile and unable to muster much gains after payroll data came out to underscore concern over Britain’s potential exit from the EU.
The latest online polling results from market research company TNS shows that 43% of respondents want Britain out of the EU‚ while 41% want it to stay‚ Bidvest analysts said.
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