Rand weakens again ahead of state of the nation address

The rand turned weaker on Tuesday afternoon‚ despite a weaker dollar‚ as event risk for the rest of the week weighed on the local currency.

At 3.30pm the rand was at R16.1874 against the dollar from a previous close of R16.1388. It earlier weakened to an intraday worst of R16.2742/$.

Against the euro‚ the rand was at R18.1893 from R18.0645 and R23.3122 against the pound from R23.2897 previously.

The euro was at $1.1237 from $1.1193 previously.

Bidvest Bank chief currency dealer Ion de Vleeschauwer said there was a fair amount of event risk ahead for the rand‚ focusing on President Jacob Zuma’s state of the nation address on Thursday. "Then we have the budget coming up on February 24."

He said the next two weeks would be important for the local currency. "The rand is still both fragile and vulnerable to economic difficulties that lie ahead both abroad and domestically‚" Mr De Vleeschauwer said.

Global forex markets are also awaiting US Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen’s testimony before Congress on Wednesday.

TMG Digital/BDlive