The rand reached a historic low on Friday ending its seventh consecutive week of losses, as the escalating Covid-19 pandemic saw investors flee riskier assets.
The local currency was down 6.85% for the week making this its longest losing streak since 2006. It also reached a new low of R19/$ during intra-day trade, according to Bloomberg data, as fears that the spread of Covid-19 will intensify weighed on emerging-market currencies. The number of confirmed cases surpassed one-million on Thursday.
“The rand is not suffering alone, with the Turkish lira and Mexican peso recording equally big moves,” Rand Merchant Bank analyst Nema Ramkhelawan-Bhana said.
At 5.57pm, the rand had weakened 2.76% to R18.9871/$ and was the worst performing among emerging-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg. It had lost 2.17% to R20.4988/€ and 1.38% R23.21692/£. It earlier reached 20.53/€, its lowest ever.
The euro fell 0.56% to $1.0793.
Brent climbed 10.15% to $32.76 a barrel. Gold was up 0.27% to $1,615.20/oz while platinum was down 1.27% to $717.11.
The yield on the R2030 government bond rose 23 basis points to 11.45%. Bond yields move inversely to their prices.
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