Rand slightly weaker but remains in tight ranges
The rand weakens slightly against major global currencies despite little news coming from the European Central Bank meeting
The rand weakened slightly against major global currencies on Thursday afternoon despite little news coming from the European Central Bank (ECB) meeting. The ECB held its benchmark refinancing rate unchanged, while president Mario Draghi said at a press conference that the bank’s bond purchasing programme could be extended beyond March 2017 when it was due to expire, though it did not give a clear commitment. At 3.34pm, the rand was at R13.8949 to the dollar from Thursday’s R13.8315. It was at R15.2181 to the euro from R15.1792 and R16.9975 to the pound from R16.9954. The euro was at $1.0952 from a previous $1.0974. Treasury One head of dealing Wichard Cilliers said the ECB announcement was not "supposed to produce any surprises". There have been no new developments on the fraud charges laid against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. Rand Merchant Bank analyst Isaah Mhlanga said the rand was trading in "narrow ranges against all majors after pricing out political risk".
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