JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand traded within easy reach of the previous day's three-week lows against the dollar on Friday, partly weighed down by concerns over the economic impact of a renewed power crunch.
The currency retreated slightly after Reserve Bank data showed the country's net gold and foreign exchange reserves fell to $42.946 billion in November from $43.085 billion in October.
At 0659 GMT, the rand was at 11.2175 against the dollar, down 0.17 percent from Thursday's close at 11.1980 in New York.
In fixed income, the yield for the government bond maturing in 2026, the benchmark for the secondary market, was down 1.5 basis points at 7.71 percent.
The rand has fallen more than 7 percent against the dollar this year as protracted strikes in the mining and manufacturing sectors and, more recently, power blackouts as utility Eskom struggles to cope with demand, take their toll on the economy.
"Fears over the South African economy's weak fundamentals and how it will cope with rising US interest rates will keep the local unit under pressure going into 2015," research house NKC said in a note.
South Africa's nagging shortfalls on the budget and current account have also raised fears of another possible credit rating downgrade next week when Fitch and Standard and Poor's release their latest reviews.
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