Rand holds its own against the dollar

The rand was steady around levels seen in local trade late Wednesday, although a tad weaker than overnight levels, as the euro recovered off its lows.

However, markets remain jittery about a possible sovereign debt crisis, with Spain and Greece the main focus of attention.

At 8.15am the rand was bid at R7.43 to the dollar, R9.83 to the euro and R11.26 to the pound. The euro was bid at $1.3221 from $1.3211 previously.

S&P's downgrade of Spain, the Eurozone's third-largest economy, on Wednesday brings to the fore that problems are certainly not just confined to the Eurozone periphery, RMB analysts noted in their morning report.

Dow Jones Newswires reported the euro is little changed against the dollar on Thursday, after bouncing slightly from a one-year low on Wednesday as the Federal Reserve committed to keeping interest rates low, sparking a rally in riskier assets that benefit from a cheap dollar.

Interest rates are likely to remain ultra low at least until later in 2010, Sutton said.