Rand softer vs dollar, euro steady

Johannesburg - The rand was softer against the dollar in noon trade on Thursday. The euro, however, kept most of the gains it had made against the greenback earlier in Asian trade.

"We're not too worried because the rand is still in ranges and it has been oversold," a local trader said.

"Earlier we put the dollar rand in a range of 7.50 to 7.60 and that's where it's stayed."

He added that the local currency's focal point remained the eurozone and the Greek debt talks.

At 11:42 local time, the rand was bid at R7.5827 to the dollar from its previous close of R7.5583. It was bid at R10.0780 to the euro from R10.0115 before, and at R12.0114 against sterling from R11.9450 previously.

The euro was bid at $1.3294 from its previous close of $1.3247.

RMB said in a morning note that Greece remained the key focus.

"Government coalition leaders have made progress on the austerity bill by agreeing to all issues, except one. Talks extended into the early hours of this morning and will resume today, with the aim to sign before the start of the eurozone finance minister's meeting at 19:00 SA time.

"We could be in for a nice positive this afternoon - although the market is so sick of Greek delays that the response may be muted in the end."

RMB said this morning's surprise jump in the January Chinese CPI figure to 4.5% reduced hopes of an imminent reduction in bank reserve requirements, with some currencies such as the Aussie dollar, Canadian dollar and New Zealand dollar taking a knock from this data.

Meanwhile, Dow Jones Newswires reported that all eyes would remain on Greece, ahead of the meeting of euro-zone finance ministers later in Brussels.