Rand steady in wake of US jobs report

02 July 2015 - 19:55 By Staff Writer
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The rand was little moved against the dollar late on Thursday in the wake of a US June nonfarm jobs report that showed fewer jobs were created than expected.

Nonfarm payrolls rose a seasonally adjusted 223‚000 in June‚ the US Labour Department said on Thursday‚ from a predicted rise of 233‚000. Employers added 254‚000 jobs in May‚ down from an initially reported 280‚000‚ Dow Jones Newswires reported.

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At 3.24pm the rand was at R12.2547 to the dollar from a close of R12.2540 on Wednesday. It reached a strongest level of R12.21 to the dollar in intraday trade‚ as the dollar backtracked after the payroll report.

The rand was at R13.5816 against the euro from a previous close of R13.5443 and at R19.1298 to the British pound from R19.1330 previously.

The euro was at $1.1083 from its previous close of $1.1054.

The June payrolls were released on Thursday due to the US Independence Day celebrations on Saturday. Wall Street will be closed on Friday.

The unemployment rate‚ which is obtained from a separate survey of US households‚ fell to 5.3% in June‚ from a predicted 5.4%‚ compared to 5.5% the prior month. The rate is the lowest since April 2008‚ but reflects fewer Americans were looking for jobs.

US employers steadily added jobs in June‚ but wages were flat and the participation fell‚ suggesting pockets of weakness remained in the labour market‚ the newswire said.

Market participants are now waiting for the referendum in Greece on Sunday on austerity measures‚ which is bound to provide further market direction.

- BDlive

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