The rand was in a stable range on Wednesday morning as the focus shifted towards the European Central Bank (ECB) meeting on Thursday. The ECB is expected to extend its monetary stimulus for a further six months. Rand Merchant Bank analyst Celeste Fauconnier said this could affect the rand in two ways. The rand was likely to weaken if the ECB decided to reduce its bond-purchase programme, while the decision to extend of the programme would be rand positive. The market appears to have digested SA’s disappointing third-quarter GDP data. The economy grew at a slower pace of 0.2%, after growth of 3.5% in the second quarter. GDP for the first quarter had contracted 1.2%. At 8.53am, the rand was at R13.6763/$ from Tuesday’s R13.6500. It was at R14.6547 to the euro from R14.6296 and R17.3032 to the pound from R17.3055. The euro was unchanged at $1.0716.
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