Money SA economy
The rand firmed against the euro in the afternoon session on Friday blocking rand/dollar play, a local trader noted.
At 3.43pm the rand was bid at R7.3031/dollar from R7.3065/dollar at its previous close. It was bid at R9.8979/euro from its previous close of R9.9455/euro and was at R11.0391/pound from R11.1285/pound.
A local currency trader said: "The rand is playing with fire at these current levels (9.90) against the euro, which is preventing the rand from reacting to current dollar strength.
"The euro will be interesting to watch next week, having shown impetus towards 1.38 earlier, it now looks wobbly again now retraced to 1.35 levels, which could mean more of the same for the rand against the dollar."
Dow Jones Newswires reported that the dollar was sharply higher against most rivals Friday morning as mounting concerns about Greece's debt problems drove investors to the safety of the greenback.
The euro sank to the lowest level in nearly two weeks, hitting intraday lows as New York trading session got underway.
Investors are getting increasingly anxious ahead of the European Union leaders' summit March 25 as it's still unclear whether E.U. partners will provide financial aid to Greece, which faces more than 20 billion euro in bond refinancing in the next two months.
"There's cautiousness on the euro," said Thanos Pappasavvas, head of currency management at London-based Investec Asset Management, which oversees 67 billion dollars in assets. "The situation in Greece will introduce more headwind for an euro-land economic recovery, which will lag the US".
