Rand remains under pressure
The rand remained under pressure in late trade having weakened sharply against major currencies on the back of rising risk aversion and jitters over speculation that financial services giant Old Mutual plc is planning to offload its 53% stake in Nedbank.
The rand remained weak after testing a four-and-a-half year worst level against the dollar overnight but was off the day's worst levels in midday trade on Tuesday as hopes were rekindled that the $700-billion financial bail-out package may eventually be passed by Congress later this week.