THE rand remained weaker across the board at midday yesterday, despite relatively good local mining production figures for December. “Short-term panic may have receded in the emerging markets, but the underlying problems with the current account deficits remain. Sentiment is also fragile; emerging markets could easily run again on a fresh bout of negative news,” Rand Merchant Bank analysts said.
At 11.55am, the rand was at R11,0758 to the dollar from Wednesday’s close of R10,9962.
Against the euro, the rand was at R15,1496 from its previous close of R14,9352 and was at R18,4407 against the pound from R18,2542 overnight.
The euro was at US$1,3676 from US$1,3587 on Wednesday.
Mining production rose 12 percent year on year in December after a revised 5,2 percent (5,1 percent) y/y increase in November‚ data released by Statistics SA showed yesterday.
Mining production rose 4 percent in volume terms in 2013 compared with a 3,2 percent decline in 2012. – BusinessDay.