Rand weaker ahead of potential US rate hike

The rand was weaker on Wednesday morning as investors focused on the prospects of a US rate hike.

Dow Jones Newswires reported late on Tuesday that Atlanta Federal Reserve president Dennis Lockhart said the US economy was ready for the first increase in short-term interest rates in more than nine years and that it would take a significant deterioration in the data to convince him not to hike rates in September.

"I think there is a high bar right now to not acting‚ speaking for myself‚" said Mr Lockhart in an exclusive interview with The Wall Street Journal.

The newswires said Mr Lockhart was considered a centrist — a Fed member who moves with the central bank’s consensus.

At 8.30am‚ the rand was at R12.7500 from a previous close of R12.7336.

Against the euro the rand was at R13.8540 from a previous R13.8552 and it was trading at R19.8155 against the pound from R19.8190.

The euro was at $1.0866 from $1.0880.

Wednesday’s data calendar is light‚ but investors are expected to pay attention to the release of US private sector employment numbers. The data are often considered an indication of what the government payrolls data will show.

 - BDlive