THE rand maintained a softer bias at noon, with market players focusing on the potential spillover effects of the Lonmin violence into other mining companies.

Mark Kalkwarf, senior portfolio manager at Iquad Group, said the local currency decoupled from the euro/dollar strength that followed German chancellor Angela Merkel becoming the latest high-profile member of the eurozone to approve some stimulus measures for the euro.

At 12.16pm local time the rand was bid at R8.2909 to the dollar from Thursday’s close of R8.2198. It was bid at R10.2409 to the euro from its previous close of R10.1558 and at R13.0059 against sterling from R12.9241 before.

The euro was bid at $1.2363 from $1.2355.

The violence at Lonmin’s Marikana mine in the North West could scare away foreign investment‚ according to some analysts, who believe the violence could spread to other mining sectors and hurt employment.