The rand remained steady in a range on Friday afternoon, amid thin volume trade attributed to the Independence Day holiday in the US.

At 3.40pm the rand was bid at 7.9082 to the dollar from its Thursday night close of 7.8583. It was bid at 11.0831 to the euro from a previous 10.9506 and at 12.9270 against sterling from 12.8350.

The euro was bid at US$1.4005 from US$1.3951 overnight.

A local trader said: "It's been a bit thin today, ahead of the Fourth of July celebrations in the United States," pointing to a narrow range of 7.92-7.95.

"We are tracking the euro at the moment," he said.

Dow Jones Newswire reports that the dollar is mixed on Friday morning as light trading flows due to the Independence Day holiday in the US blunt the greenback's earlier strength.

The dollar was little changed against the euro and the yen, modestly higher against the British pound, and lower against the commodity currencies.

"Given the holiday today, there's just a general lack of overall interest," said George Davis, chief technical analyst for foreign exchange at RBC Capital Markets in Toronto.

The dollar had appreciated broadly on Thursday after weaker-than- expected US jobs data for June revived concerns about the economic outlook and triggered a renewed aversion to risk, a market stance that tends to benefit the dollar against most other currencies.

A report from Scotia Capital said that with the US closed on Friday, liquidity should prove to be at a premium.

"European markets are looking subdued at the moment, following yesterday's drubbing, though currencies are showing some rather wide ranges," Scotia said.

A week of record losses for yields

Bond yields clocked a record week of losses as Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan shocked investors by saying the revenue shortfall could be as much as R60-billion.

Some consolidation set in via a gain of 3.5 points in early trade on Friday morning, but the bidding interest petered out during the afternoon session as investors decided to take to the sidelines to lick their wounds.

By 3.43pm the short-term government R153 bond was bid at 7.410 percent from a previous 7.435 percent. The medium-term R157 was at 8.745 percent from 8.780 percent, while the long-term R186 was bid at 9.265 percent from 9.285 percent before.

I-Net Bridge