The South African rand was steady against major currencies in early trade on Thursday after see-sawing for the previous few days.
Traders said they expected the rand to remain pretty range-bound on Thursday, unless big import or export orders flowed through the market.
At 0855, the rand was trading at 8.7750 against the dollar from a New York close of
8,7475. It was a tad softer against the euro, trading at 9,2731 from a previous 9,2225.
The rand was quoted at 14,0966 against sterling from a previous 14,0352.
“The rand has been very volatile over the last couple of days. We expect it to be
more range-bound today than earlier in the week unless a big exporter or importer gives it a bit of direction.
“If the rand breaks through 8,70, we expect it to go down to about 8,65, but if it
breaks 8,85 at the top end, it could go to 8,90 to the dollar,” a currency trader said,
explaining that a big exporter or importer order might give the market a bit of an
indication of the direction in which it would be going in the next week or two.
In morning trade on Wednesday, the rand threatened to break above the 9 per dollar level for the first time since December 20. However, it recouped its losses in late afternoon trade when players in New York were caught long on dollars. – I-Net-Bridge