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Rand touches 4-year low on back of weak retail sales dataAFP JOHANNESBURG--The South African rand plunged to a fresh four-year low against the dollar on Wednesday, on the back of weak retail figures and mounting fears over Africa's largest economy.
March 15, 2013, 12:06 am TWN The dollar broke above the 9.26 rand mark after Statistics South Africa reported that retail sales increased by just 1.9 percent in January, far less than expected. “Rand sentiment is negative at the moment, and momentum for the rand is lower, so the rand could still weaken further in the coming three months,” Tradition Analytics said in a note to clients. The latest fall came a day after the currency slumped on news that South Africa's third-quarter current account deficit had been revised up to 6.8 percent of output and was 6.5 percent in the fourth quarter.
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