South African Rand Rises Against Dollar, Erasing Earlier Drop

By Garth Theunissen

Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- South Africa's rand rose against the dollar, reversing an earlier decline.

The rand advanced 0.3 percent to 8.3188 per dollar as of 9:37 a.m. in Johannesburg, from 8.3456 yesterday. Earlier it fell as much as 0.4 percent to 8.3750.

U.S. lawmakers rejected yesterday President George W. Bush's $700 billion plan to bail out financial institutions, sending U.S. stocks plunging.

The South African currency has dropped 8 percent this month and 6.5 percent in the third quarter versus the dollar.

To contact the reporter on this story: Garth Theunissen in Johannesburg gtheunissen@bloomberg.net