Rand in a wide range

Johannesburg - The rand was trading slap bang in the middle of an extended range in the midday session on Friday, with eyes on the euro performance against the dollar.

At 11:40 the rand was bid at R7.6814 to the dollar from R7.6586 at its previous close. It was bid at R10.3765 to the euro from its previous close of R10.3299 and was at 11.7982 against the sterling from R11.8257.

The euro was bid at $1.3506 from $1.3466 previously.

A local currency trader said: "We are trading in a range of R7.53-R7.78 against the dollar. We tested R7.69 briefly, but came off that level pretty quickly, so there was some selling interest.

"At the moment we are in the middle of that range, and I would be surprised if we hit the bottom 60's against the dollar. We will keep an eye on euro/dollar movement," he said.

Dow Jones Newswires reports that the euro and other risk sensitive currencies were trading lower on the Fed move, as the dollar pushed higher. The single currency fell as low as $1.3443 against the dollar, its lowest level since May 18, 2009.

The single currency - already under pressure on continuing concerns about Greece's debt - was last seen fetching $1.3505, down from $1.3527 late in New York on Thursday. Sterling was at $1.5403 from $1.5551.

The Federal Reserve announced on Thursday that it was raising the rate it charges banks for emergency loans by a quarter percentage point.

- I-Net Bridge