Money SA economy
A firm rand hardly moved from its midday levels in afternoon trade on Monday, dovetailing the single currency for direction.
At 3.41pm local time the rand was bid at R7.61 to the dollar, R9.89 to the euro and R11.62 to the pound. The euro was bid at $1.2962 from $1.2899 overnight.
A local dealer said: "The euro moved up this morning, and the rand followed suit. There really isn't much else to the story at present."
Dow Jones Newswires reports that the euro rose slightly against the dollar on Monday as investors anticipated that stress tests of European banks would allay fears about the region's banking sector.
The euro managed to hold on to its marginal gain despite a downgrade of Ireland's credit rating on Monday and the breakdown in funding talks between Hungary and the International Monetary Fund over the weekend.
The news out of Europe was "a sprinkling of information, but I don't think it changed the flavour of anything," said Simon Smollet, senior foreign exchange options strategist at Credit Agricole CIB in London. Instead, the initial results from the stress tests, due on Friday, were dominating trading, Smollet said.
