Rand remains strong before lunch

The South African rand remained strong before lunch on Monday, having reached key technical levels against the euro, while the single currency remained firmer against the US dollar.

At 11.54am the rand was bid at R7.37 to the dollar, R10.09 to the euro and R11.19 to the pound.

The euro was bid at $1.3664 from $1.3636 previously.

Dow Jones Newswires reports the US dollar is struggling pretty much across the board Monday with the euro garnering support from French President Nicholas Sarkozy's weekend comments that the euro zone is ready to rescue Greece should the government struggle to fund its deficit.

Sterling took some relief from the latest election polls which gave the Conservatives a bigger lead over Labour and reduced the risks of a hung Parliament.

In their morning commentary, RMB analysts noted that pressure on Euro/US dollar looks to have eased as a result of this weekend's events, with the unit trading firmly above the 1.36 level.