Currencies (1.7.04)

The rand was stronger against major currencies in late afternoon trade yesterday on the back of exporter dollar sales coupled with a stronger euro.

Currency traders said that the market was awaiting the US Federal Open Market Committee decision on US rates due in the evening, although they expected this to be a bit of a "damp squib".

In late afternoon, the rand was quoted at R6,1838 to the dollar from an overnight close of R6,2488 on Tuesday. It was quoted at R7,5181 to the euro from Tuesday's R7,5428 at R11,2210 against sterling from R11,2920.

The rand has been all over the show, one currency trader said, and they have seen good interest from importers and exporters. An important had a lot of dollars to buy and took the rand to R6,3150.

Offshore players were overall (dollar) sellers and have been able to push the rand to current levels. A stronger euro had also helped.

The dollar declined against most of its major counterparts yesterday in trading marked by the Federal Reserve's widely anticipated decision to hike interest rates for the first time in four years by a quarter percentage point.