Rand hits 16-month high

Emerging market currencies hovered around record-high levels yesterday as weak US jobs data kept the dollar under pressure, while South Africa's rand rose to a 16-month peak after Moody's skipped a sovereign rating review. South Africa's rand rose 0.4% and led gains across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The currency's relatively higher yield has helped it benefit from a low US interest rate regime, and made it the best performing emerging market currency so far this year. At around 11:30 yesterday, the rand traded at 14:05 against the greenback. Photo Nampa/Reuters