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Johannesburg - The rand was on the front foot in early trade on Wednesday, building on its gains of late on Tuesday, amid a softer US dollar and as players eye the interest rates decision in Europe on Thursday.
The market has taken news of victory for Barack Obama in the US presidential election in its stride.
At 08:55 the rand was bid at R9.6685 to the dollar from a previous close of R9.6998. It was bid at R12.3673 to the euro from a previous R12.6121 and at R15.2427 against sterling from R15.4590 before.
The euro was bid at $1.2888 from $1.2993 overnight, while gold was quoted at $755.85 a troy ounce from $762.90/oz overnight.
"The rand needs to break below R9.50 to move dramatically stronger. The dollar is a bit weaker today, but I think it will come down to the interest rate decisions tomorrow," a local currency trade said.
The Bank of England and the European Central Bank will announce their rates decisions on Thursday.
The trader pegs the rand in a R9.50 to R9.80 range for today.
Dow Jones Newswires reports that Barack Obama's election as the next US president had little impact on the dollar in Asia Wednesday, with the US currency falling slightly against the yen on profit-taking after the previous session's gains.
Traders said an Obama victory had largely been factored into trading, and that also contributed to the profit-taking when the results came out. The market is still looking mostly at developments in the global financial crisis to figure out what currency positions to take.
Traders said the dollar's outlook will depend on what happens in global stock markets, with a strengthening in the US currency expected if global share markets rise and cause a decrease in investors' risk aversion.
The euro, meanwhile, dropped against the dollar and the yen. Some Japanese investors were said to be selling the common unit in a thin market, traders said.
Dealers said the euro could fall further ahead of the European Central Bank's monetary policy meeting on Thursday, at which the central bank is expected to cut rates by 50 basis points. Some traders said the European currency may fall to $1.26 and ¥125, compared with $1.2884 and ¥128.15 as of 05:50 GMT.
- I-Net Bridge