Reserve Bank governor's appointment keeps rand buoyed
THE rand on Monday afternoon maintained the slightly stronger levels reached after the appointment of Lesetja Kganyago as the new Reserve Bank governor.
The local currency also found some support from a weaker dollar against the euro as the greenback took a breather from stronger levels last week.
At 3.31pm, the rand was at R11.2736 against the dollar following its Friday close of R11.3514. It earlier firmed to R11.2302/$.
Against the euro, the rand was at R14.1450 from a previous close of R14.2014 and was at R18.0142 against the pound from R18.1174 previously.
The euro was at $1.2544 from $1.2509 on Friday.
Although the rand has recovered somewhat against the dollar, analysts expect the currency to eventually cross R11.39/$, the weakest level of the year so far, reached on January 30, after weakening to R11.35/$ on Friday.
The local currency has lost 7.6% against the dollar in 2014. It has, however, done much better against the euro and British pound, weakening 4.1% against the European currency and actually gaining 2.4% against the pound.
The dollar has gained 9.2% against the euro this year. 'Much of the rand's strength has come from a further suppression of the euro and British pound due to sluggish eurozone growth and the British economy losing cyclical momentum,' Bidvest Bank chief currency dealer Ion de Vleeschauwer said.
He also ascribed the dollar strength to continued speculation over expected interest rate increases by the US Federal Reserve next year.
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