THE rand was trading in a notably weaker environment on Thursday morning, following the release of Chinese manufacturing data, which once again raised the fear of a slowdown in that economy.At 8.28am the rand was at R12.2525 against the dollar from a Wednesday close of R12.2196.On Wednesday, the rand had begun the day trading at R12.0783 against the greenback.Against the euro the rand was at R13.1076‚ from a previous close of R13.1061 and was at R18.3962 against the British pound‚ from R18.3752 overnight.The euro was at $1.0698 against the dollar from $1.0725 previously.Dow Jones Newswires said the preliminary HSBC Chinese manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) fell to a one-year low of 49.2 in April‚ compared with a final reading of 49.6 in March.A reading below 50 indicates contraction in a sector.Production increased only marginally‚ but total new business declined for the second consecutive month‚ while operating conditions in China’s manufacturing sector deteriorated sli...
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