Rand retreats from three-week highs

THE RAND fell from a threeweek high against the dollar on Wednesday as the greenback rose and traders closed positions ahead of yesterday’s national holiday.

The slide continued yesterday. At 5pm, the rand was bid at R13.3181 to the dollar, 23.58c softer than at the same time on Tuesday.

The local unit got off to a good week, hitting a three-week high of R12.80 to the greenback, buoyed by increased risk appetite after the market’s preferred candidate won the first round of the French presidential election.

But global market attention was now turning to US President Donald Trump’s promised announcement on tax cuts, supporting a reheating of the dollar-positive “Trumpflation” trades that dominated the end of 2016 but have waned since.