* Rand pierces support at 8/00/dlr
* Rand weakness trims bond market gains
JOHANNESBURG Jan 24 (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand
weakened against the dollar on Tuesday as investors turned their
backs on risky assets due to uncertainty about the outcome of
talks aimed at averting a chaotic Greek debt default.
The rand fell as much as 1.1 percent in the session
to hit a session low of 8.0125, its weakest since last week.
Rand weakness weighed on bonds, trimming gains that came
after a strong debt auction earlier.
The rand broke support at 8.00 and was last trading at 7.98
to the dollar, from Monday’s New York close of 7.9250.
In the absence of key local news, the rand has been taking
direction mainly from international developments that are
dominated by concerns over Greece’s failure to reach a debt
restructuring deal with its creditors.
“We’ve seen some stop losses on the rand and the market got
a bit short. The euro and equities haven’t performed so
everything has been against the rand today,” said David Gracey,
head of forex trading at Nedbank Capital, seeing the rand at
8.05 in the next few days.
The rand weakened by 22 percent last year against the dollar
in 2011 as the euro zone debt crisis deepened.
Continued…
