Rand follows euro at lunch

The rand tracked euro movement in midday trade on Monday, but trade action was muted with the US market closed for the Labour Day holiday.

At 11.36am local time the rand was bid at R7.19 to the dollar, R9.26 to the euro and R11.06 to the pound. The euro was bid at $1.2890 from $1.2891 overnight.

A local dealer said: "Trade has been quiet which was expected with the US on holiday. We saw the euro come off a fraction earlier, which triggered some buying action with the rand up to 7.22 against the dollar. We have since come off that figure and should see a fairly tight range of 7.16-7.20 for the rest of the day."

RMB analysts noted in a morning report that a good US payroll figure allowed US dollar/rand to break into a new cyclical low on Friday and while the going was tough the unit looks like it wants to keep fighting its way lower.

Dow Jones Newswires reports that the improvement in risk sentiment that followed Friday's better-than-expected US non-farm payrolls proved short-lived, with the euro falling back from earlier highs and the dollar staging small rebounds on Monday.