Money SA economy
The rand was weaker at noon, eyeing the euro as the Greek issue continued to dominate world forex markets.
At 12.00pm the rand was bid at R7.35 to the dollar, R9.96 to the euro and R11.35 to the pound. The euro was bid at $1.3541 from $1.3571 previously.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that another slump in global market sentiment helped the dollar and the yen in Europe Friday.
Concern about how Greece's debt bail-out will work was the main factor undermining investors confidence, with the market looking to a meeting of European Union finance ministers and central bankers in Madrid for reassurance.
However, the general mood wasn't helped by disappointing first quarter results from Google, dovish comments from San Francisco Federal Reserve President Janet Yellen and indications from China that it is once again moving to slow economic growth.
Greece triggered the latest wave of concern by admitting Thursday that the dollar bond issue it had planned to launch in the U.S. would probably fail to meet its target. For the first time since the deficit crisis began, Athens then requested formal consultations with its euro zone partners and the International Monetary Fund.
