THE rand remained captive to dollar strength at midday on Monday, trading in sight of the 13-year low it touched last Friday. At 11.32am, the rand was trading at R12.0529 against the dollar, slightly weaker than Friday’s close of R12.0171. Earlier the local unit fell to R12.08/$ to the dollar, merely 2c away from its December 2003 lows of R12.10/$ reached on Friday after better than expected US jobs figures raised prospects that US interest rates would be increased sooner rather than later. "This is not a South African specific event. The dollar is strong across the entire emerging market bloc," Rand Merchant Bank’s Thando Vokwana said. He said at current levels, the rand was consolidating but was still battling to find its feet. "With data so light today, expect the rand to drift within the R11.95 to R12.10 range," he said. Against the euro the rand was at R13.1028 from a previous close of R13.0318 and was at R18.1944 against the British pound from a previous close of R18.0936. The euro hovered at 12-year lows against the greenback in the wake of the start of quantitative easing in the eurozone. It fetched $1.0873, fractionally firmer than Friday’s close of $1.0843.

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