JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s rand softened against the dollar yesterday as fears of a global slowdown dealt another blow to risk sentiment among investors.
At 6:38am, the rand was trading at 8,6035 against the dollar, slightly softer than last Friday’s New York close of 8,59.
“There’s probably more risk for rand weakness in the coming days. It does look like there are still concerns,” said Ion de Vleeschauwer, a trader at Bidvest Bank.
United States employment data on Friday suggested the eurozone’s debt mess was taking its toll on the world’s largest economy, stoking fears of a worldwide slowdown compounded by gloomy manufacturing data from China and Europe.
“Obviously those very weak US job figures on Friday have sparked rumours that there could be more quantitative easing, which should benefit emerging markets,” De Vleeschauwer added.
Government bonds were largely unmoved. The yield on the three-year bond was flat at 6,355% while that on the 14-year paper gained 1,5 basis points to 8,93%.
The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers is due to release May new vehicle sales data at 9:00am.
