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Johannesburg - The rand was softer against the
dollar in choppy midday trade on Friday. The local currency tracked the
euro, which had fallen slightly against the greenback on concerns that
the Greeks would not keep up their end of the bargain, struck on
Thursday.
"The forex market continues to be headline driven as all eyes remain on the Greeks," a local rand trader said.
At 11:57 local time, the rand was bid at R7.6694 to the dollar
from its previous close of R7.5803. It was bid at R10.1675 to the euro
from R10.0748 before, and at R12.1371 against sterling from R11.9938
previously.
The euro was bid at $1.3265 from its previous close of $1.3275.
Barclays Capital said in a note that while Greece believed it
had met the austerity requirements needed to secure additional funding
for its March bond repayments, EU officials and the IMF had indicated
that more spending cuts needed to be announced before they disbursed new
funds.
Meanwhile Dow Jones Newswires reported that the president of
the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, said on Friday he is
confident that a solution to Greece's financial bailout will be reached
next week.
His comments come a day after eurozone finance ministers
withheld approval for a second Greek bailout and sought fresh proof from
Greece's political leaders that they were ready to deliver on past and
new pledges to seal a second bailout package as early as next week.
Barroso also said that Greece needed to undertake some
structural reform and that he hoped the Hellenic nation would remain in
the eurozone.