Rand drops against the dollar

The South African rand eased a fraction in afternoon play on Friday in what a trader described as an 'uninteresting day' ahead of the kick-off of the FIFA World Cup in Soweto.

At 15.21pm the rand was bid at R7.75 to the dollar, R9.37 to the euro and R11.29 to the pound.

The euro was bid at $1.2090 from $1.2100 overnight.

A local trader said: "It been an uninteresting day, for obvious reasons. Orders are going through, but there is no real interest."

Dow Jones Newswires reports that the euro fell against the dollar Friday after disappointing US retail sales figures cast some doubt over the pace of the US recovery, leading investors to take a modest step away from riskier assets.