USD and Rand strengthen on Forex markets

At mid-day in New York on Tuesday, the US dollar was only fractionally off six-month highs against the euro, sterling, and Canadian dollar and it was up against the yen on mixed economic data.

The dollar was trading at $1.2641 against the euro, at $1.8392 in relation to sterling, and at C$1.2655 against the Canadian dollar. The dollar was up 0.2 percent in relation to the yen, at ¥107.12.

In Asian trade, however, the yen was trading at ¥106.57 in relation to the dollar before news that Japan’s deflation seems to be deepening.

The yen also fell off early spikes of ¥134.55 in relation to the euro and ¥195.63 against sterling to end 0.2 percent down in relation to the euro at ¥135.48 and down 0.3 percent to ¥197.13 opposed to sterling.

Meanwhile, in South Africa, the rand fell 1.2 percent in relation to the dollar to R6.4259, a seven-month low. This came after the African National Congress advocated a more competitive exchange rate, to be achieved by “aggressive” purchase of dollar assets while the rand is strong or by speeding up liberalization of exchange controls. The strength of the rand has more than doubled since 2001.

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