Rand SA flag. Picture: THINKSTOCK
Picture: THINKSTOCK

THE rand was on a firmer footing against major currencies in late trade, tracking global risk themes as negative effects of the Lonmin mine shootings on the local currency receded.

At 4pm local time, the rand was trading at R8.2207 to the dollar from Monday’s close of R8.3197. It was trading at R10.2513 to the euro from its previous close of R10.2714 and at R12.9629 against sterling from R13.0688 before.

The euro was bid at $1.2470 from $1.2350.

Investors continued to believe that the European Central Bank (ECB) would step in to intervene in markets to help fiscally frail eurozone countries, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

"People are increasingly hopeful that the ECB's policy backstop will soon be in place, and this has been reflected in the compression of yields on Spanish and Italian debt,” said Dan Dorrow, head of research at Faros Trading.