Money SA economy
The rand remained on the front foot in late trade on Thursday as the US dollar came under selling pressure.
At 3.45pm local time the rand was bid at R7.22 to the dollar, R9.25 to the euro and R11.09 to the pound. The euro was bid at $1.2803 from $1.2821 overnight.
A local dealer said: "The rand is testing 7.20 levels on the back of the weaker US dollar and firmer euro."
Dow Jones Newswires reports that the dollar fell against the euro Thursday after the common currency found support from a successful Spanish government debt auction and a European Central Bank that offered few surprises after leaving key rates unchanged.
The euro's gain isn't likely to extend significantly as investors take a cautious stance ahead of Friday's U.S. nonfarm payroll figures, considered a key gauge of the health of the economy, said Amelia Bourdeau, senior G10 currency strategist at UBS.
"People won't want to push risk one way or the other too much," she said.
The safe-harbour greenback was unable to muster a gain against the Japanese yen and Swiss franc on a day investors shunned riskier assets after bidding strongly higher Wednesday currencies closely tied to global growth on the back of better-than-expected global data.
