The rand was stuck in ranges, tracking the euro, which stabilised in Monday afternoon trade.

The local currency started off weaker in the morning, reacting to the European political influence, which impacted on the markets.

The change of guard in France and Greece was of concern as the new leadership in both countries had raised objections to austerity measures in Europe.

In France, socialist candidate François Hollande claimed the presidency in a bruising battle with Nicholas Sarkozy, while in Greece voters delivered a stinging rejection of incumbent Socialist and Conservative parties.

"With the UK being on holiday trade was fairly quiet. The rand was stuck in ranges when the euro stabilised. I think we will see a continuation of this, the rand tracking the euro," said a local trader.

At 15:30 local time the rand was bid at R7.8334 to the dollar from its previous close of R7.8210. It was bid at R10.2300 to the euro from R10.2300 before, and at R12.6529 against sterling from R12.6973 previously.

The euro was bid at US$1.3058, from its previous close of $1.2985 and $1.3087 late on Friday.

RMB in its morning report said that the rand finally woke from its slumber on Friday and reacted to all the bad news.

The bank added that the victory of Hollande in the French elections was expected but nevertheless left some questions about Europe's commitment to austerity and the workability of the key French-German axis.

RMB added that much more concerning were the results of the Greek elections.

"It's clear that any government is going to be very unstable. At the very least the political uncertainty makes dealing with the economic problems more difficult, at the worst it means that Greece could leave the eurozone this year," said RMB.

Standard Bank concurred with RMB saying that the rand had weakened significantly since Friday, once again falling victim to global currents.

"Firstly, the disappointing payrolls data on Friday afternoon sapped risk appetite and saw the rand fall to its lowest level in over a week. Then, the victory of socialist Hollande in this weekend's elections in France has seen the market's worst fears realised," Standard bank said.

Dow Jones Newswires reported that the euro stabilised during holiday-thinned European trading Monday after suffering steep falls in Asian hours sparked by the rejection of further German-led austerity measures in French and Greek elections.

The common currency was able to climb off its overnight low against the dollar of $1.2955, its weakest since late January, but has appeared to settle in a slightly lower trading range around the $1.30 level as market pressure has abated and London remains shut for a public holiday.

Markets have been unnerved by the election of pro-growth Socialist Francois Hollande as France's next president and the failure of Greece's two main political parties to muster the necessary support to form a coalition government, based on 99 percent of the vote counted. Pro-bailout parties secured just 33 percent of the public vote, down from 77 percent at the last election three years ago.

European bourses were in the red, led lower by French banks and Greek equities while prices of riskier eurozone peripheral states' bonds rose following the Greek election. Economists at Citigroup said the probability of Greece leaving the euro was now as high as 75 percent.

Bonds stay soft in quiet trade

Bonds stayed soft in quiet afternoon trade on Monday after having sold off earlier on the back of a weaker rand, which was tracking the euro following the French presidential election win of Socialist Party leader Francois Hollande.

"We have had a very quiet day. The market is wondering what a Hollande election victory will have on the eurozone sovereign debt crisis," a trader said.

At 15:37, the benchmark R157 bond was trading at 6.415 percent from Friday's close of 6.365 percent and Thursday's close of 6.335 percent. The R207 was bid at 7.520 percent and offered at 7.500 percent from a previous close of 7.435 percent and the R186 was trading at 8.145 percent from its close of 8.080 percent.