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Johannesburg - The rand remained on the front foot on Monday afternoon targeting R7.29 against the dollar. The local currency also reached key technical levels against the euro amid keen
buying interest both locally and internationally.
At 15:35 the rand was bid at R7.3693 to the dollar from R7.4229 at its previous close. It was bid at R10.0632 to the euro from its previous close of R10.1383 and was at R11.1321 against the sterling from R11.2497.
The euro was bid at $1.3656 from $1.3636 previously.
A local currency trader said: "The bias is currently towards a strong rand with buying interest both locally and internationally. The rand hit some key technical levels against the euro, while R7.29 is the next target on the dollar. It will be interesting to see what happens as we get more activity from New York."
Earlier, the Dow Jones Newswires reported that confidence that the Greek debt crisis will now be resolved helped to boost the euro in Europe on Monday.
Overall, sentiment in financial markets was much improved, helped by last Friday's stronger-than-expected US payrolls data as well as news that Japan's current account surplus was bigger than anticipated.
French President Nicholas Sarkozy was instrumental in providing the reassurance that the market had been seeking that other eurozone countries will come to Greece's aid.
After talks in Paris on Sunday with Greek Prime Minister George Papandraeou, the French president said major eurozone members will do what is needed to ensure that Greece isn't isolated and that precise measures for helping the country are being discussed.
This suggestion that Greece won't be allowed to default on its debt means Greece should start to become less of a concern for financial markets, analysts said.
For the euro, however, any recovery may prove to be limited given that the eurozone recovery could lag well behind that of the US and ensure that the euro remains unattractive on a yield basis.
A reminder of the strength of the US economy came with the payrolls data last Friday, which showed the number of jobs falling by only 36 000 last month instead of the expected 75 000.
- I-Net Bridge