* Exporter interest supports rand
* Bonds follow rand, decent auction seen on Tuesday
* CPI, MPC to give direction later this week
JOHANNESBURG, Jan 16 (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand
firmed against the dollar on Monday as exporters took the chance
to sell dollars after a sharp fall for the local currency in the
previous session due to ratings agency Fitch’s downgrade of its
outlook for the country.
The rand was trading at 8.0880 against the dollar
at 1515 GMT, 0.46 percent firmer than Friday’s New York close of
8.1250. It hit a one-week low of 8.2249 on Friday after Fitch’s
statement.
“Dollar/rand has fallen through the first support level at
8.12 and 8.10, boosted by some export activity and as
euro/dollar comes off intraday lows,” said Anisha Arora,
emerging market analyst at 4CAST.
The Fitch move, which came despite South Africa’s relatively
low levels of national debt, was a surprise to many and some
analysts said it was likely just about the generally nervous
global environment and should not be followed by an actual cut
in its credit rating.
Bidvest Bank chief trader Ion de Vleeschauwer cautioned
against turning bullish on the rand, however, and said Monday’s
moves could be attributed to thin trading as U.S. markets were
closed for a holiday.
“We must take these kind of moves with caution … There’s
still a bit of fickleness in the market and we have those
ratings downgrade in Europe hanging over our heads,” he said.
Continued…
