The rand and gold price were in the spotlight in early trade on Wednesday, with the local currency 7 cents stronger than late Tuesday against the US dollar, while gold hit yet another record high of $1 290.80 an ounce in Asian trade.
By 7.50am local time the rand was bid at R7.0370/$ from R7.0533/$ overnight and 7.12 seen late Tuesday local time, as the euro eyed 1.33 against the greenback.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that the dollar is lower after the Federal Reserve said it stood ready to kick-start a slowing US economy.
The euro rose, after racking up gains of more than 1.5 percent against the dollar on Tuesday, while the greenback wilted against the yen, briefly dipping below Y85, considered by some analysts to be Japan's threshold for yen strength after last week's massive market intervention.
The euro was last at 1.3286 to the dollar from 1.3255 overnight.
"What we see is the door being kept open to further quantitative easing," Michael Woolfolk, senior currency strategist at BNY Mellon in New York, said of the Fed's possible fresh round of economy-stimulating asset purchases.
"Quantitative easing is broadly viewed to be corrosive to a currency's value, and so with the increased probability of easing measures, the knee-jerk reaction in the market is to sell the dollar," he said.
The Fed statement also seemed to confirm - at least for now - that a double-dip recession is "off the table," Woolfolk said.
That allowed investors to leave behind the worst-case scenario in favor of taking risks on higher-yielding currencies, such as the Australian dollar, which soared to a two-year high against the greenback.
Meanwhile gold continued it rally, setting yet another record. Dow Jones reported that some Comex buying was dragging spot higher, said a Singapore based trader, who added early London trade will likely see break of $1 291/oz and assault on $1 300/oz psychological target. - I-Net Bridge
