Rand firms against dollar after US data

Johannesburg - The rand firmed against the dollar in late afternoon trade on Friday following the release of better-than-expected US jobs data. 

"It's a risk-on scenario after the US non-farm payrolls figures, but even before that we saw the rand supported by some very large offshore names and the US data just assisted the rand's progress," a local currency trader said. 

"The euro briefly touched $1.32 after the data announcement and I think the single currency has performed admirably given the circumstances. 

"For me though, the euro rand cross is the important thing to watch," he concluded. 

At 18:00 local time, the rand was bid at R7.5559 to the dollar from its previous close of R7.6371. Before the data was released at 15:30, dollar/rand was at 7.6142. 

The rand was bid at R9.9114 to the euro from R10.0349 before, and at R11.9125 against sterling from R12.0692 previously. 

The euro was trading at $1.3119 from its previous close of $1.3136. 

Meanwhile, Dow Jones Newswires reported that the US labour market grew at its most robust pace since last spring in January, a sign that the economy's momentum had carried into the new year.