Rand recovers but more pressure likely

THE RAND recovered some of the previous day’s heavy losses yesterday, but more pressure could come from a struggling economy and an imminent US rate hike.

A sell-off in emerging markets, prompted by expectations that the US Federal Reserve will soon start tightening policy, have whittled appetite for emerging markets, pushing the rand 10 percent weaker against the dollar this year.

At 5pm, the rand was bid at R12.7439 to the dollar, 5.59c firmer than at the same time on Wednesday. The local currency had hit a trough of R12.83 against the greenback on Wednesday, its softest since December 2001.

Meanwhile, the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits rose less than expected last week, data showed yesterday.