The rand was slightly weaker against major currencies on Friday morning following the European Central Bank’s announcement that it was scaling back its quantitative easing programme. Rand Merchant Bank analyst Neville Mandimika said the market was initially confused by the ECB’s decision to reduce the size of its bond-buying programme from €80bn a month to €60bn but also to extend it by six months until December next year. But ECB president Mario Draghi’s comment that the ECB would reserve the right to increase the programme should the eurozone recovery falter was seen as positive, Mandimika said. Poor manufacturing and mining data announced by Statistics SA on Thursday could also be playing a role in rand weakness. Mining output decreased by 2.9% in October compared with the same time last year, while manufacturing production fell 2.7% year on year. The figures were weaker then expected. The Reserve Bank is set to release the third-quarter current account data on Friday, which will...
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