Rand little changed in morning trade

The rand was little changed from its overnight levels this morning as the local currency continues to track a weaker euro as debt issues in Europe persist.

At 8.57am the rand was bid at R7.53 to the dollar, R9.80 to the euro and R11.44 to the pound. The euro was bid at $1.2992 from $1.2965 previously.

A local trader said: "Euro/rand has held up quite well. Any rand weakness is as a result of a soft euro, and not the local currency itself. The rand is stitched to the euro. If we break through R7.54/$, we could go to R7.60/$. The single currency has had a lot of bad news thrown at it, but has held up relatively well," the trader said.

RMB analysts noted in a morning report that global markets got fried on Tuesday, with hefty losses on all risky assets. "There isn't any news yet, it's just that the markets seem very sceptical about the bailout. Euro/US dollar remains the bellwether of the problems for global markets.”

Dow Jones Newswires reported that euro fell against the US dollar and the yen Wednesday in Asian trade, hit by concerns that the euro-zone sovereign debt crisis may not be contained by the latest bailout package announced for Greece.

At 0450 GMT, the euro traded at $1.2947, down from $1.3001 in New York on Tuesday, and at ¥122.65, from ¥122.71.