The rand took a huge dive on Wednesday as it responded to the reality that convicted felon former President Donald Trump would become the next president of the United States.
The rand was trading at around R17.72 against the dollar at 10:10am on Wednesday morning.
At the beginning of the week the ZAR was trading at around R17.52 to the dollar at the same time.
The rand was trading at around R19.00 to the euro and around R22.81 to the pound at 10:10am.
This may not be the end to the rands weakness, according to Andre Cilliers, currency strategist at TreasuryONE.
He told Reuters that if Trump solidified his lead, the dollar could gain further, likely pushing the rand further into a weaker position.
Early victory
Trump has already declared victory in the US election despite the fact that he has yet to secure 270 electoral votes thought the prospect is very likely.
He had 267 electoral votes at 10:21am.
Trumped thanked voters for electing him "as your 45th president and your 47th president".
Trump, addressed supporters in the early hours of the morning declared “political victory” and said they had won the popular vote.
Fox News had called the presidency for Trump.
“We all won by the Maga movement,” he said.
With this victory, Trump becomes only the second president in American history to serve non-consecutive terms, marking an unprecedented comeback following his initial defeat to Joe Biden in 2020.
Dollar and Bitcoin soar
The dollar jumped 1.5% to 154.33 yen, its highest since July, while it was also up more than one percent against the euro and more than three percent against the Mexican peso.
Bitcoin piled almost $6,000 (around R106,875) higher to a record $75,330.88, (around R1,341,831.30) topping its previous peak of $73,797.98 (around R1,314,526.52) in March.
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