The rand was steady at firmer levels in early trade on Monday, following a strong close on Wall Street on Friday.
By 09.05am the rand was bid at 7.7675 to the dollar from its previous close of 7.7520. It was bid at 12.2863 to the euro from a previous 12.3133 and at 15.4750 against sterling from 15.5502 before.
The euro was bid at $1.5833 from $1.5811 overnight, while gold was quoted at $920.97 a troy ounce from $916.00/oz overnight.
RMB analysts said in their morning report that international markets seem to increasingly think that the worst is over in the credit crisis, with good financial sector results last week pushing the Dow to its highest levels since January.
"This is, of course, feeding through into the ZAR as foreign capital returns to our markets. USD/ZAR then held the 8.00 level last week and managed to reverse for a push once again at 7.73. Positive sentiment continues into today with great gains in global stocks and emerging market currencies strengthening," they said.
The Dow closed up 1.8 percent on Friday.
RMB warns, however, that some caution is advised. Even if sentiment is improved, this week global markets will have to navigate weak US housing data, record high oil prices and numerous central bank decisions which will highlight inflationary problems.
Local data, in the form of consumer and producer inflation data will also be closely watched.
