Money SA economy
The South African rand was firm in early Friday trade, but all eyes are on the US payrolls data later in the day which is likely to determine the dollar's and hence the rand's direction going into the weekend.
At 08.40pm local time the rand was bid at R7.21 to the dollar, R9.25 to the euro and R11.13 to the pound. The euro was bid at $1.2825 from $1.2822 overnight.
"We have come a very long way this week and we have done relatively well. We are seeing a bit of a base forming at 7.21 going into the payrolls data and after that we will just have to see," a trader said.
RMB analysts noted in a morning report that this week the rand has seen new highs up at 7.43 and now trying new lows below 7.24.
"Support down at these levels has been rock solid over the past year and once again we should expect a surge of import orders. Risks of a break nevertheless are high.”
Dow Jones Newswires reports the major currency pairs are little changed pending the pivotal US labor data at 1230 GMT, which could help investors decide whether the dollar should fall more.
"There is great uncertainty, and the market is acting in a very tentative manner ahead of [Friday's] nonfarm payrolls data," said Jack Spitz, managing director of foreign exchange, financial markets and derivatives at National Bank in Toronto. "With investors still on edge about the chance of a double-dip U.S. recession, we suspect any disappointment (in the U.S. jobs data) would scupper the recent bond market sell-off, providing headwinds for the US dollar," said Mike Jones, currency strategist at the Bank of New Zealand.
