Rand still follows the euro

The South African rand continued to trade in a range on Thursday morning, but with focus on the local currency's performance against the euro.

At 08.58am the rand was bid at R7.42 to the dollar from R7.38 at its previous close. It was bid at R10.11 to the euro and R11.09 to the pound.

The euro was bid at $1.3631 from $1.3642 previously.

A local trader said: "The focus this morning is on euro/rand's performance. We broke 10.08 against the euro, and we will test 10.26.

"Overall, we are still looking pretty rangy, at 7.38/40 to 7.48 on the topside."

RMB analysts in their morning report noted the EUR is trading steadily against the US dollar, buoyed by the prospect of EU intervention should Greek borrowing costs continue to rise.

"US dollar/rand however is floundering at 7.42, following several days of consistent gains, partly due to aggressive purchasing below the US dollar/rand 7.40 level.

Meanwhile, the euro was at $1.3642, down from $1.3653. The ICE Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of currencies, stood at 80.453 from 80.451 in New York Wednesday.