Currencies

The rand slipped against the dollar yesterday before exporter buying pared losses, with traders citing lack of local interest due to a US holiday and a televised England SA cricket test.

RMB AM and Business Day report that at mid-afternoon, the rand was at R6,04 against the dollar, barely budged from R6,03 against the dollar on Friday.

Earlier, it had slippedto R6,08 against the dollar before exporters sold their foreign exchange earnings, supporting the unit. It was a very quiet day, said one trader.

They were stuck in a 20c range. The rand hasn't even had much movement to follow on the euro.

With US markets closed for the Martin Luther King Day holiday, the yen briefly rose to a five year high against the dollar in London yesterday, as investors bet that next month's meeting of Group of Seven industrialised nations would urge Asian countries to let their currencies rise.

So far, the dollar's three-year decline has translated mostly into strength in the euro, causing concern in Europe about exporters' competitiveness and leading European bankers last week to make fresh calls for Asia to shoulder more of the burden.