Johannesburg - The rand continued to lose ground in midday trade on Friday, tracking the weaker euro against the US dollar on the back of the euro area debt woes.
Mark Kalkwarf, senior portfolio manager at Iquad Group, said sovereign debt troubles seemed intractable, with investors in the region concerned about France potentially getting into financial difficulties.
At 11:46 local time, the rand was bid at 8.5401 to the dollar from its previous close of 8.4744. It was bid at 11.3404 to the euro from 11.3101 before, and at 13.2099 against sterling from 13.1273 previously.
The euro was at $1.3276 from $1.3329 previously.
Standard Bank analysts noted that rand weakness was likely to persist. "We believe that worries over Europe are likely to resurface as the region's leaders are seemingly no closer to common ground. The rand is thus likely to continue on its weakening trajectory in the near term."
Dow Jones Newswires reported that central and eastern Europe currencies came under heavy selling pressure on Friday after Moody's Investors Service cut Hungary's sovereign rating to junk, ramping up concerns about the region's exposure to the troubled euro area.
