Range bound

After fireworks on Friday the rand was steady against the dollar in late afternoon trade yesterday in a quiet market.

RMB AM and Business Day report that currency traders expected the rand to remain range bound for the rest of the day.

In late afternoon trade, the rand was quoted at R6,5621 to the dollar from a close of R6,5350 on Friday. It was quoted at R8,0219 to the euro from a previous R8,0284 and at R11,8030 against sterling from Friday's R11,7830.

Currency traders said that the rand had been stuck in a narrow range all day.

For the past five hours, the rand has been trading at about R6,56. There is nothing happening at the moment.

Another said that the market had been flow-driven, with importers interested in buying dollars at R6,55 and exporters looking to sell at R6,58.

The dollar hovered in recent ranges yesterday in mostly subdued trade as dealers awaited two economic indicators due today.

The dollar has rebounded modestly against the euro from near three-week lows reached last week after a surprise decline in US producer prices and relatively dovish comments on inflation from Federal Reserve officials.