The rand gained further ground in late trade on Thursday, benefiting mainly from broad-based dollar weakness.
“Global risk-on trade is putting the dollar under pressure,” Iquad Group trader Muhammad Ayob said.
At 4.01pm, the rand was at R10.6396 to the dollar from Wednesday’s close of R10.6707. Against the euro, the rand was at R14.7089 from its previous close of R14.6510 and was at R17.7867 to the pound from R17.8268 on Wednesday.
The euro was at $1.3822 from $1.3732 at its overnight close.
Both the European Central Bank and the Bank of England kept their interest rates on hold as expected, and market attention now turns to the US nonfarm payrolls due to be released on Friday.
Economists expect the US to have added 152 000 jobs last month, more than the 113 000 added in January, according to Dow Jones Newswires. The unemployment rate is expected to have fallen to 6.5% from 6.6%. The data will gauge the strength of world’s largest economy.