Rand slips ahead of Moody’s decision

THE RAND weakened against the dollar yesterday as investors took a cautious tone towards the currency ahead of rating decision by Moody’s.

At 5pm, the rand bid at R11.9869 to the dollar, 16.03 cents softer than at the same time on Thursday.

“The ZAR (rand) has been a little bit on the back foot recently, that tends to tell us that jitters are crippling into the market as the Moody’s review approaches,” said ETM Analytics market analyst, Halen Bothma.

Moody’s, the only major agency with an investment grade rating on South African debt but with a downgrade review, is scheduled to make a decision by March 23.

The rand and stocks largely shrugged off news that former presi- dent Jacob Zuma would be charged with corruption over a R30bn state arms deal in the late 1990s.

In the equities market, the benchmark JSE Top40 index declined 0.37 percent to 51 421.64 points, while the all share index ended the week 0.18 percent lower to 58 101.02 points.

dropped 1.66 percent to end the session at R3 408. – Reuters