Rand stays on the front foot

The South African rand remained on the front foot in the afternoon session on Monday, tracking a firm euro.

At 3.32pm the rand was bid at R7.40 to the dollar, R9.95 to the euro and R11.07 to the pound. The euro was bid at $1.3452 from $1.3387 previously.

A local currency trader said: "The trend for the day has been the rand's tracking of the euro. We are in a range of 7.36-42 against the dollar, but let’s wait for more action in New York, to see if we can break through the top end of the range."

Dow Jones Newswires reported that the euro extended its rally for a second day Monday morning as a planned sale of new debt by Greece this week boosted demand for riskier assets.

The common currency hit a week high against the dollar, surging past the $1.35 level, during overnight trade after the Greek government announced it was seeking to raise as much as EUR5 billion in seven-year bonds to help meet its debt obligations coming due in April. The euro also jumped to a two-week high against the yen.

Recent pressure on the euro reflects investors' concerns about Greece's funding problems, with a surge in the risk premium investors demand to hold Greek debt. The country has to meet €11 billion ($14.6 billion) in debt service in April, according to data from the Greek Public Debt Management Agency. In May, a further €11.646 billion will be due.