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Johannesburg - The rand was weaker against the dollar at midday on Thursday but remained range-bound ahead of major data releases later today and tomorrow.
“The rand is still very much in ranges‚” said Lee Naisbitt a currency trader at RMB. “We have a lot of data coming out‚ with the European Central Bank (ECB) this afternoon and US nonfarm payroll figures tomorrow. They will set the tone going forward‚” he said.
Most analysts predict that the ECB will choose to keep its key interest rate unchanged at a record low 0.75% but there is a possibility that the bank might hint at future monetary policy easing.
Naisbitt said the rand was likely to remain between R9.18 to R9.28/$ in the short term. “From a local data perspective we don’t have too much to drive the rand. It’s going to take something significant to move us out of this range‚” he said.
At 11:33‚ the rand was bid at R9.2629/$ from R9.2187 at the previous close. The local currency was bid at R11.8545/€ from its previous close of R11.8363 and at R13.9495 against sterling from R13.9532 before.
