Money SA economy
The rand was firmer in early trade on Monday, in line with the stronger euro, which rallied in reaction to the EU bank stress tests results released late Friday.
At 08.45am local time the rand was bid at R7.36 to the dollar, R9.57 to the euro and R11.42 to the pound. The euro was bid at $1.2951 from $1.2886 overnight.
RMB analysts said in a morning report that the initial reaction to the EU bank stress tests released late Friday was relief - US markets pushed up quite strongly and EUR/USD rallied, as only seven of the 91 banks failed.
Dow Jones Newswires reported the euro and sterling are higher Monday on lessened risk worries after the European bank stress tests. From here, euro and sterling are likely to consolidate in ranges. The handful of banks that failed were smaller banks of low consequence, said Ron Leven, currency strategist at Morgan Stanley in New York. Still, it was "enough to show this was a serious exercise."
Five Spanish banks, one German bank and one Greek bank were the only institutions to fail the tests. Their combined shortfall would be about €3.5 billion, a number that struck many analysts as too low.
