What a day for the rand! The rand spiked above the R9/$ level to R9.4595 - a level last witnessed in November 2002. The drop in the rand is been largely driven by the global market turmoil. Rate cuts by central banks around the world saw some currencies, including the rand, recoup some of their earlier losses but this did not last long. The Fed reduced its key rate from 2% to 1.5%, while the Bank of England cut its base lending rate by half a point to 4.5%, and the ECB, which last week decided to keep borrowing costs on hold, cut to 3.75%. Other central banks also taking part include the banks of Canada, Sweden, and Switzerland. Chances are very slim that South Africa will follow suite and also cut rate tomorrow (Thursday) with many analysts predicting rates to remain where they are for now.

At 15:50 the rand was bid at R9.3290/$ from a previous close of R8.9184. It was bid at R12.6867/€ from a previous R12.1303 and at R16.2431/£ from R15.6127 before.

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