Johannesburg - The rand was in the
middle of a range in the morning session on Friday tracking the euro ahead of
non-farm payrolls data in the US.
At 09:02 the rand was bid at 7.4863 to the dollar from 7.4755 at its
previous close. It was bid at 10.1700 to the euro from its previous close of
10.1470 and was at 11.2313 against the sterling from 11.2208.
The euro was bid at $1.3581 from $1.3581 previously.
A local trader said: "Non farm payrolls data is out later. The rand is in
the middle of a range of 7.44-54 against the dollar tracking the euro on any
break ahead of that data in the US.
In their morning commentary, RMB analysts noted that the weekend was vital
for Greece as its Prime Minister, George Papandreou, meets with his German and
French counterparts to secure firm commitments of support. The country requires
more than a mere pat on the back to manage their fiscal constraints and drive
bond yields down to pre-budget crisis levels.
Although news of the overwhelming success of the country's ?5bn bond
issuance inspired investor confidence, tensions between Athens, Berlin and
Paris remain, the analysts said.
"Euro gains emanating from the success of the issuance, were largely offset
by ECB comments relating to the unevenness of the eurozone recovery yesterday,
which reduced the possibility of near-term rises in record low interest rates.
"The rand however seemed unperturbed, flourishing below dollar/rand
7.50. We expect the trend to sustain, though volatility might be evident later
in the day," RMB said.
Despite only a scattering of international data, event risk is elevated
with the release of the US non-farm payrolls figure later this afternoon, it
said.
Dow Jones Newswires meanwhile reported that the yen fell against the
dollar in Asia on Friday as reports that the Bank of Japan may take additional
steps to ease monetary policy led investors to speculate Japanese interest
rates might fall, reducing the attractiveness of yen-denominated assets.
The BOJ will likely consider more easing through April, the major dailies
the Nikkei and the Yomiuri Shimbun reported Friday. Possible steps could
include expanding the volume of loans at a fixed rate of 0.1%, introduced in
December, from the current ¥10 trillion, analysts said.
Non-Japanese investors jumped on the reports and pushed the yen lower. But
the reaction by Tokyo dealers was limited. They said even if the BOJ reinforces
the lending facility, the yen-weakening effects will be limited.
Looking ahead, investors will pay attention to US non-farm payrolls data
due at 13:30 GMT. The dollar may spike against the yen briefly if the jobs data
beat economists' forecast.
Some say the chances of that happening aren't slim, as similar US jobs
data earlier this week came in stronger than expected, noted Yuichiro Harada, a
senior dealer at Mizuho Corporate Bank.
Non-farm payrolls may show a decline of 75 000 jobs in February, according
to a Dow Jones poll of economists.
Automatic Data Processing reported Wednesday that 20 000 private-sector
jobs were lost in February, less than the 50 000 expected in a Dow Jones survey
of economists.
The euro was at $1.3591 from $1.3576 and ¥121.29 from ¥120.98 partly due to
Japanese institutional investors' euro-buying, dealers said. But the unit's
bias remains downward due to lingering European debt worries.
- I-Net Bridge