The South African rand went higher today for the first time this week as the good fundamentals and the outlook for the USA overshadowed the European crisis.

William Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and vice chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee, suggested in his speech yesterday that the Federal Reserve has capacity to ease the monetary policy further in order to support the nation’s economy. The fundamental report this week continued the trend of the previous week, demonstrating good signs for the most part. The good news were welcomed by traders, reducing fears and making investors more willing to buy riskier assets.

USD/ZAR was down from 8.2040 to 8.1930 today as of 16:38 GMT after touching the intraday low of 8.1090.

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