Rand is still lower agains the dollar

The rand was soft in midday trade on Thursday tracking negative global sentiment on equities, and amid a firmer dollar.

At 11.42am the rand was bid at R7.33 to the dollar, R9.75 to the euro and R11.14 to the pound. The euro was bid at $1.3306 from $1.3344 previously.

A local currency trader said: "There is a bit of negative sentiment in global markets at the moment, with equities failing to reach certain benchmark levels. The dollar is also holding up well against many of the majors," he said.

Dow Jones Newswires reported that safe havens were back in vogue, pushing the dollar and the yen higher in Europe Thursday as market attention once again focused on the problems facing Greece.

Speculation that China may soon release its yuan peg against the dollar and a reminder by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the US recovery still has some way to go helped weigh on market sentiment.

The euro was the main loser as investors waited to see if Greece's protracted debt negotiations start to have an impact on general euro-zone policy.

At its meeting Thursday, the European Central Bank is expected to leave interest rates unchanged and confirm that it will extend the period for which it will accept lower-rated collateral from euro-zone banks, effectively allowing it to continue accepting higher-risk paper from Greek banks.