The rand was relatively flat in late trade on Monday as traders eyed international data and news for direction.
“It has been very stable‚ it moved about two cents up and down‚ if that. We have to look at the bigger picture than the rand and that is the euro‚ which has also been very stable. The reason for this is everybody is waiting for Bernanke’s speech on Wednesday. Markets will remain relatively stable in the running to that‚ said Mark Kalkwarf‚ a senior portfolio manager at Iquad Group.
At 3.25pm‚ the rand was bid at R8.1766 to the dollar from R8.1881 at Friday’s close. It was bid at R10.4504 to the euro from its previous close of R10.4752 and at R13.0529 against sterling from R13.1038 before.
The euro was bid at US$1.2781 from $1.2796 at Friday’s close.
“The Lonmin issue has been affecting the crosses of the rand‚ the euro/rand has not come back as much as can be expected; that has to do with the continued actions at the mines. The rand could be a lot stronger if it wasn’t for that‚” Kalkwarf said. - I-Net Bridge