Johannesburg - South Africa's rand barely moved against the dollar early on Friday, taking direction from the euro, which took a breather following a plunge the previous session.
The rand will likely trade within its recent ranges until later in the afternoon when the United States releases non-farm payrolls data.
Investors are also watching developments in Ukraine and Russia, which, along with the interest rate moves of the core markets such as Europe and the United States, have been the primary driver of emerging markets in recent weeks.
Dealers said if there were no surprises out of Kiev and Moscow, the euro is likely to maintain its weaker tone after the European Central Bank cut interest rates to record lows on Thursday and announced asset buying to try and revive its economy.
At 08:42 SA time on Friday the rand was flat at 10.7300 to the dollar.
“There has been no change to the 12-week ranging action in the dollar/rand pair, which we expect to be maintained into next week,” said Judy Padayachee, technical strategist for Barclays Africa.
Yields on government bonds were also flat at 6.53 percent on the paper due next year and at 7.975 percent on the 2026 issue.
The South African Reserve Bank reported lower reserves in August because of the stronger dollar, a slight decline in the gold price and foreign payments made for Treasury. - Reuters