The rand ended firmer on Friday as it strengthened after European finance ministers agreed to increase the size of the firewall meant to protect the stronger eurozone members from contagion from the weaker members.
"The eurozone deal has removed some uncertainty so the euro rallied on that agreement and we just followed suit. Trade was quiet in the morning, but picked up in the afternoon as both importers and exporters squared off their books due to the quarter-end," a local trader said.
At 15:42 local time, the rand was bid at R7.6725 to the dollar from its previous close of R7.7117 and Thursday's intraday worst level of R7.7750. It was bid at R10.2332 to the euro from R10.2605 before, and at R12.2583 against sterling from R12.3062 previously.
The euro was bid at US$1.3346 from its previous close of US$1.3304.
Meanwhile Dow Jones Newswires reported the yen rose to a three-week high against the dollar in Asia on Friday largely on the back of repatriation flows at the end of the Japanese fiscal year, but traders said the move is unlikely to herald a sustained push higher by the Japanese currency.
The dollar sank to as low as Y81.83 in early trading, its lowest since March 9, as speculators joined in to sell the greenback amid expectations of repatriation flows by Japanese firms and investors at the end of their business year.
The US currency briefly bounced back as importers and investors moved to buy dollars and euros, but those moves were again countered by last-minute sales by exporters.
Eurozone finance ministers reached an agreement on Friday to expand the currency bloc's capacity for crisis lending to EUR700 billion. - I-Net Bridge
