* Rand range-trading, ignoring euro for now
* Currency unmoved by Lagarde comments
* International bond auctions will be closely watched
By Vuyani Ndaba
JOHANNESBURG, Jan 6 (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand
held steady against the dollar on Friday and was largely
range-bound at the end of a week characterized by low liquidity
as South African traders slowly returned to work.
Reassurances about the euro’s future from International
Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde during a visit to South
Africa did little to the rand, which was at 8.1395 at 1605 GMT,
a shade firmer than Thursday’s close at 8.19.
Lagarde did say that Africa’s biggest economy should have
prepared itself for spill-over from any worsening of the euro
zone sovereign debt crisis.
“We started the week quite a lot lower, and there is still a
bit of a bullish tone to it, so for the time being there seems
to be some dislocation between the euro and the rand,” said Rand
Merchant Bank trader Lee Naisbitt.
Next week traders will be closely watching the sovereign
debt auctions in Europe to gauge wider investor sentiment. Of
late, auctions have attracted low subscription rates.
Continued…
