The South African rand rose today as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke quelled fears of imminent quantitative easing reduction and after the South African central bank left monetary policy unchanged.
Bernanke said during yesterday’s testimony that it is “way too early to make any judgment”. He noted earlier that monetary policy is “by no means on a preset course”, alleviating worries that stimulus will be trimmed soon. Such comments helped riskier currencies, including the rand. The South African currency also gained as the South African Reserve Bank kept its main interest rate stable at 5 percent on yesterday’s meeting.
USD/ZAR was down from 9.9302 to 9.8471 as of 12:44 GMT today.
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