Rand down, but still in range

The rand was range bound in midday trade on Monday with a trader citing low liquidity levels amid holidays both in the US and UK.

At 11.33am the rand was bid at R7.67 to the dollar, R9.44 to the euro and R11.12 to the pound. The euro was bid at $1.2293 from $1.2275 previously.

A local trader said: "We have a holiday in both New York, and in London today so we haven't seen too much action with liquidity very low.” He noted a range of 7.60-7.70 against the dollar.

RMB analysts said in a morning report that Fitch's downgrade of Spain's long-term foreign and local currency credit rating to AA+, further emphasised the seriousness of the Eurozone's debt crisis.

The analysts said that euro/US dollar remains poised at 1.23 inspite of the downgrade and appears to be trading in a 1.21 1.24 range. The celebration of Memorial Day in the US means that international event risk is mainly concentrated in Europe today.