How to trade the Rand? Any ideas?

[yakatan]

I'm interested in trading the Rand because I have to deal with that currency due to business (exporting that requires repatriating GBP)

I would like to know what moves the Rand. So far I have noticed two things -
1. the rand goes up when the FTSE goes up
2. the USD/Zar chart looks exactly like the GBP/ZAR

Can someone explain these observations and inform me of what else i need to know to trade the GBP/ZAR.

 

[Adamus]

Depending on the nature of SA's economy, the Rand probably correlates quite well to the Canadian, Australian and NZ Dollars, known as the commodity dollars because of their economies' reliance on commodity exports.

You would do well to check out the country file from the Economist.

HTH