At the mercy of local politics‚ the rand struggles

The rand was weaker against the dollar after trading steadily in earlier sessions.

The currency lost close to 10c before retracing and trying to find a firmer level.

At 11.30am the rand was at R13.6980 to the dollar from R13.6598‚ at R16.2105 to the euro from R16.1848 and at R18.4541 to the pound from R18.3180.

The euro was at $1.1833 from $1.1848.

With just two weeks to go before the ANC’s elective conference‚ local politics will be a dominant driving force.

On Wednesday‚ a court ruling disrupted plans for the Free State ANC’s provincial elective conference‚ which could lead to the delay of the national conference.

TreasuryOne currency dealer Phillip Pearce said the rand seemed to have stabilised between $13.58/$ and R13.72/$ for the time being as it takes a breather from its recent rally.

-BusinessLIVE