The rand remained range bound against the dollar in late afternoon trade yesterday in a flow-driven market.
Currency traders said that activity had been fairly subdued, with the market awaiting the US Federal Reserve's open market committee decision on interest rates.
In late afternoon, the rand was quoted at R6,2126 to the dollar from an overnight close of R6,1650 on Monday and R6,3150 on Friday. It was quoted at R7,5373 to the euro from Monday's R7,5011 and at R11,2710 against sterling from a previous R11,2910.
Basically the rand weakened from R6,19 to R6,25 on offshore demand for dollars. It is coming off (its worst levels) now - exporters are creeping back in. It's near month-end and they are squaring off export proceeds, a currency trader said.
The dollar rose against most major currencies yesterday supported by strong US economic data and short-covering ahead of an expected Federal Reserve interest rate increase.
The Fed's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee opened a meeting yesterday and is widely expected to hike rates by a quarter percentage point from a 46-year low of 1% at the end of the meeting today.
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