The South African rand weakened today, extending its longest decline in a year and touching the lowest level in four years, on concerns that worker strikes and falling commodity prices will hurt the nation’s economy.
Labor unrest at mines is a continuous problem in South Africa and it looks like the issue resurfaced again. It is very bad for the country’s economy as the mining sector contributes to more than a half of South African exports. Speculations about an end to the US Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing drove commodity prices down, hurting prospects for the export-oriented economy even more.
USD/ZAR rose from 9.3214 to 9.4009 as of 8:15 GMT today and touched the high of 9.4340 intraday.
If you have any questions, comments or opinions regarding the South African Rand,
feel free to post them using the commentary form below.