Rand Drops as South African Trade Deficit Swells

  March 01st, 2013 at 13:11
 African cape buffalo on 100-rand noteThe South African rand declined today as the nation’s trade balance deficit widened more than experts have predicted, driving investors away from South African assets.

The South African trade gap swelled to 24.5 billion rand ($2.7 billion) in January from 2.7 billion rand in December. Analysts have anticipated a shortage of 9.7 billion rand. The rand dipped after the report, heading to the biggest weekly drop in five months.

USD/ZAR rose from 9.0250 to 9.0813 as of 13:11 GMT today.