Rand stays stuck in a range

The South African rand remained range-bound in afternoon trade on Monday.

A local dealer noted light trading volumes, saying market players had adopted a wait-and-see attitude towards the debt woes in Europe.

At 3.41pm the rand was bid at R7.83 to the dollar, R9.69 to the euro and R11.28 to the pound. The euro was bid at $1.2363 from $1.2533 previously.

A local trader said: "The rand remained pretty much in a range against the US dollar, trading between 7.80-7.90 as the euro lost some ground against the US dollar from Friday.

Traders have sort of adopted the wait-and-see attitude as Europe tries to deal with its sovereign debts."

Dow Jones Newswires reports that the euro dropped sharply Monday as fresh concerns over euro-zone economies again came to the forefront after Spain rescued a small, failing savings bank over the weekend.