The rand was off the day's best levels but rangebound against the dollar in late afternoon trade yesterday following the release of worse-than-expected April trade data.
However, with New York and London out of the market, activity was muted and was expected to remain so for the rest of the day. At 3.50pm, the rand was quoted at R6,5226 to the dollar from a close of R6,5111 on Friday and R6,5546 on Thursday.
It was quoted at R7,9529 to the euro from a previous R7,9497 and at R11,9770 against sterling from Friday's R11,9360. It had been very quiet all day.
The trade figures were disappointing so the rand moved up 150 to 200 points, but with New York and London absent, there is not much happening.
SA recordeda trade deficit of R3,121bn for its trade with non-Southern African Customs Union trading figures that were released yesterday.
The median forecast was for a R1,5bn surplus in April, with a range from a R400m surplus to a R4bn surplus. In April 2003, the surplus was R68,6m.
The yen gained on the dollar and the euro yesterday in very thin trade as many financial centres were shut for a holiday, with some of the yen's strength attributed to demand after a re-weighting of a global benchmark index.
Get the latest issue of FAnews