The rand remained caught in a tight range by the late afternoon on Monday, with traders preferring to bide their time ahead of the rates decision on Thursday, and a slightly stronger Dow at the open aided this purpose.

By 4.20pm the rand was bid at 7.8725 to the dollar from a previous close of 7.8720. It was bid at 12.3460 to the euro from a previous 12.4438 and a worst intraday point of 12.4938, and at 15.5524 against sterling from 15.4938 before.

The euro was bid at US$1.5692 from US$1.5790 overnight, while gold was quoted at $898.80 a troy ounce from $901.95 overnight.

Brent crude futures were last at $135.38 a barrel, off their worst levels but still cause for concern.

"The rand is pretty directionless and is trading in a tight range – we haven't seen a four to five cent range for a long time," said market analyst from ETM, George Glynos.

"I think people are biding their time ahead of the MPC on Thursday," he said, adding that there had been some movements offshore, but the rand had not followed.

Glynos said he had noted a slightly firmer tone in the late afternoon due to a higher open on the Dow, but said the main theme remained the lack of action.

Another rand dealer noted earlier that the pressure against the currency was being reflected against the euro rather than the dollar, but the rand did manage to pull off its worse levels here in the afternoon as the euro lost ground against the dollar.

Rand, oil, MPC weigh bonds down

Bonds were under the whip again on Monday as a weak rand, uncomfortably high oil prices and general edginess ahead of the rates decision on Thursday combined to catapult the market further into the red.

The short end suffered the brunt of the selling activity in early trade, but the rest of the market followed its lead during the afternoon.

By 3.40pm the short-term government R153 bond was at 11.680 percent from its previous close of 11.560 percent, while the medium-term R157 was at 10.290 percent from its previous close of 10.165 percent. The longer-term R186 bond was bid at 10.085 percent from its previous close of 9.940 percent.

I-Net Bridge