Money SA economy
The rand was trapped in a tight range in afternoon trade on Monday with action curtailed by the Labour Day holiday in the United States.
At 3.27pm local time the rand was bid at R7.19 to the dollar, R9.26 to the euro and R11.05 to the pound. The euro was bid at $1.2878 from $1.2891 overnight.
A local dealer noted a range of 7.17-7.23 against the dollar for the local currency, with very little action amid a US holiday.
Earlier Dow Jones Newswires reported 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 Monday.
The reversal in sentiment emerged as it became clear that a rash of central bank policy meetings this week is unlikely to bring any rate hike.
On the contrary, speculation persists that further quantitative easing will still be needed in many major economies.
Policy meetings by the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England, the Bank of Canada and the Reserve Bank of Australia are all expected to end with unchanged rates. Analysts noted some reluctance in the market to push the euro back to $1.30, a key level that it hasn't traded above for nearly a month.
