Currency fairly tight

The exporter sales of dollars helping it keep global greenback rise at bay, though some weakness was seen because of the dollar's performance.

By mid-afternoon, the rand traded at R6,24 against the dollar, little changed from new York close on Friday but about 6c off its previous Johannesburg close. Its range on the day up to that point was R6,19 to R6,2450 to the dollar - fairly tight by its often volatile standards.

It looks like the rand can go to R6,25 to R6,28 to the dollar. Dealers thought this was likely because of the dollar's rise.

The dollar scaled five-month peaks against the yen and touched a seven-week high versus the euro yesterday on the widening interest rate differentials between the US, Europe and Japan.

Weekend comments by St Louis Federal president William Poole, said US growth was strong and the central bank needs to confront the risk of higher inflation, also helped the dollar. The currency rose above ¥108 for the first time since October.

The euro fell to $1,2819, its lowest since February 10, before recovering to $1,2852 in late trade, still weaker for the day.