Rand Falls on Risk Aversion Following Earthquake in Japan

The South African rand slumped today as the earthquake, tsunami and the radiation leak from the damaged nuclear plant in Japan decreased investors’ willingness to risk and curbed appeal of higher-yielding currencies.

The disaster and the resulting risk aversion may cut short foreign inflows into the South African economy. Societe Generale recommended traders to sell the rand against the dollar.

USD/ZAR surged from 6.8160 to 7.0070 as of 12:29 GMT today, erasing the losses of the previous two weeks.

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