The rand was stable on Friday morning but kept a relatively positive bias at the end of a week that was dominated by the medium-term budget policy statement. The local currency traded in a fairly wide range against the dollar this week, with analysts welcoming the budget but warning that the country’s credit rating could still be downgraded before the end of the year. Investors will be waiting for the release of US third-quarter preliminary GDP data, which are likely to affect how the dollar trades against other currencies, including the rand. Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking analysts expect the local unit to trade in a R13.75/$-R14.05/$ range. Growth in US GDP is forecast at 2.5% in the third quarter, according to Trading Economics, from 1.4% in the second quarter. At 9am, the rand was at R13.8789 to the dollar from Thursday’s R13.8756. It was at R15.1498 to the euro from R15.1456 and R16.8868 to the pound from R16.8803. The euro was at $1.0915, unchanged from in the previo...
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