* Rand up in anticipation of global stimulus
* Pulls back from 8.07/06 resistance barrier
* Treasury weekly auction results after 0900 GMT
JOHANNESBURG, Aug 14 (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand firmed
against the dollar on Tuesday, with investors betting that
continued weakness in global growth will lead to co-ordinated
monetary stimulus from central banks, which would boost emerging
markets assets such as the rand.
The local unit was traded at 8.1275 per dollar at
0636 GMT, 0.45 percent higher than its close in New York on
Monday but still within a 10 cent trading range set on Friday.
“The market is stuck at the moment, waiting for further news
from the central banks,” said David Gracey, a currency trader
for Investec.
Some market players have taken the view that if global
growth continues to be soft, it increases the possibility that
central banks such as the Federal Reserve and the European
Central Bank will stage coordinated monetary stimulus to try and
revive their economies.
“The rand is firming because of the potential for further
stimulus measures – in other words, a debasing of the major
currencies. The rand would do well against those currencies, and
the gold price has also risen in anticipation of that,”
Investec’s Gracey said.
Rand bulls seem to have surrendered at the 8.07 level hit in
Friday and Monday’s sessions, pulling back in what analysts say
is a technical correction from overbought levels last week.
Continued…
