Money SA economy
The South African rand was soft in afternoon trade on Friday amid continued pressure on the euro due to the ongoing euro-zone debt crisis.
A local trader noted that the local currency had held up well as the single currency plunged to its lowest level since November 2008, however bias was still towards further rand weakness, he said.
At 3.40pm the rand was bid at R7.51 to the dollar, R9.37 to the euro and R10.97 to the pound. The euro was bid at $1.2468 from $1.2571 previously.
"The rand is weaker purely on the back of a soft euro. The single currency initially held at 1.25 against the dollar, but once it broke through that level, new lows were targeted. The rand has surprisingly held up well, but offers and bids have been coming in. Bias is still towards further rand weakness against the dollar with resistance at 7.60 first up," he said.
Dow Jones Newswires reports that the euro sank below $1.2500 Friday to its lowest level since November 2008 as concern mounts over the negative fallout from measures taken to deal with the euro-zone debt crisis.
