Rand dragged down by Greek debacle

The monetary unit of the largest economy on the African continent dove to its lowest value in nearly 120 days on Friday as it hurtled toward its worst weekly performance thus far this year, according to Bloomberg.

The South African rand dropped to its lowest value since the middle of this past January in the fallout of challenges facing Greece, the recipient of two tranches of international bailout aid since June 2010. Last weekend's elections in the Aegean nation generated no clear victor and the country's commitment to terms and conditions of austerity measures is likely to be tested in the coming weeks.

"With risk aversion in the air, the traditional rush to safe havens has lifted the dollar and seen the rand weaken to more than 8 per dollar," states an email authored by currency strategist Nomvuyo Guma with Standard Bank Group in Johannesburg to Bloomberg.

South Africa and its monetary unit are sensitive to developments in the euro zone since euro zone nations account for the purchase of more than one-fifth of what South Africa exports.

Reuters reports South Africa's Friday sale of bonds connected with inflation did not fare very well for the second consecutive week.