{"id":15538,"date":"2012-10-13T05:52:02","date_gmt":"2012-10-13T03:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/10\/update-1-s-africas-rand-turns-weaker-after-sp-downgrade\/"},"modified":"2012-10-13T05:52:02","modified_gmt":"2012-10-13T03:52:02","slug":"update-1-s-africas-rand-turns-weaker-after-sp-downgrade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/update-1-s-africas-rand-turns-weaker-after-sp-downgrade\/","title":{"rendered":"UPDATE 1-S.Africa’s rand turns weaker after S&P downgrade"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

(Updates rand levels, adds bonds, background)<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

JOHANNESBURG<\/span> Oct 12 (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand
\nweakened on Friday after ratings agency SP downgraded the
\ncountry’s local and foreign currency sovereign ratings, saying
\nunderlying social tensions would increase government spending
\npressure and reduce fiscal flexibility.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The rand fell to 8.77 to the dollar soon after the
\ndowngrade — a loss of more than one percent on the day — from
\n8.70 before the SP release.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The currency closed at 8.66 in the New York market on
\nThursday.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Standard Poor’s cut South Africa’s credit rating one notch
\nto BBB with a negative outlook, saying mining strikes and social
\ntension could reduce fiscal flexibility and hurt growth.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The move came three weeks after Moody’s also cut South
\nAfrica’s government bond rating by one notch to Baa1 from A3,
\nciting worries about the country’s institutions as well as
\nfuture political stability and room for policy maneuvering.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The downgrades will add to the jitters of investors already
\nworried over strikes which have hit the mining sector hardest
\nwith tens of thousands of workers downing tools since August,
\nhitting output in the world’s largest producer of platinum and
\none of the biggest of gold.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The rand plumbed a 3-1\/2 year low of 8.995 on Monday as
\nsentiment withered on the strikes, also weakening bonds and
\nstocks. The currency remains vulnerable to negative sentiment
\nover the job boycotts, analysts noted.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“While there seems to be some progress towards resolving
\nsome of the strikes, the protests have spread to other key
\nsectors as well,” said BNP Paribas.
\n\u00a0 Continued…<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Updates rand levels, adds bonds, background) JOHANNESBURG Oct 12 (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand weakened on Friday after ratings agency SP downgraded the country’s local and foreign currency sovereign ratings, saying underlying social tensions would increase government spending pressure and reduce fiscal flexibility. The rand fell to 8.77 to the dollar soon after the downgrade […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-15538","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15538\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}