Rand at best level in almost five months

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Rand at best level in almost five months

3:51 CAT | 19 Apr 2016

The rand extended its rally on Tuesday afternoon, trading at R14.2868 against the dollar at 2.31pm, the best level since November 26 2015.

The rand is being driven by a weaker dollar and higher oil prices. Brent crude was 0.78% higher at $43.42 a barrel, having shrugged off the failure among producers to reach an agreement at the weekend to halt the oversupply of oil. This is supporting positive sentiment towards commodity-based currencies such as the rand.

Spot gold rose 0.73% to $1,241.53 a fine ounce and platinum was up 1.53% to $991.91 an ounce.

Just after 2pm, the rand was at R16.2282 against the euro from R16.3782 previously‚ and at R20.5609 against the pound from R20.6688 previously.

The euro was at $1.1359 from $1.1314 in the previous session.

TreasuryOne dealer Phillip Pearce said earlier that the rand’s rally was impressive in terms of how quickly it reversed losses and made meaningful gains to break the 14.45/$ mark, a key 200-day moving average level.

“Further gains are certainly on the cards and it could test R14.30/$ even today,” he said on Tuesday morning.

The rand has been an impressive gainer among commodity-based currencies, with the Australian and Canadian dollars firming to near 10-month and 9-month highs, respectively.

However, the bounce in commodities had confounded market players as the failure to reach an agreement to halt the oversupply of oil should be negative for oil prices, and as Kuwait experienced a strike in their oil industry, Mr Pearce said.

Source: Business Day Live