Currencies are trading in a scattered ranking this Friday. The dollar is on the defensive against most major currencies, while the South African rand and the rupee remain stable.

The dollar remains on the defensive against most major currencies, even though it picked up some steam yesterday with statements by two members of the American Central Bank (Fed) that worried currency traders. The greenback snapped 0.27% around 20:15 GMT, at $1.0367 per euro. It was also 0.42% against the British pound, at $1.1864 per pound.

To date, the South African rand has changed little in early trade. Later in the day, investors await the expected revisions to South Africa's sovereign credit ratings by S&P Global and Moody's. The rand was trading at 17.3425 against the dollar at 0725 GMT, near Thursday's closing level of 17.3575. Since the close last Friday, the rand was down about 0.4% against the dollar. In a research note ETM Analytics said it expected S&P and Moody's to leave South Africa's ratings and prospects unchanged.

The Indian rupee, on the other hand, changed little over the weekend. It was at 81.6650 per dollar, compared to its previous close of 81.65. Since the start of the week, the currency has fallen by 1% in volatile exchanges and has relinquished half of its gains from last week in the wake of slightly soft US inflation data.

For its part, the book has suffered from announcements by British Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt. A series of savings measures were unveiled on Thursday by Jeremy Hunt to improve the fiscal trajectory of the United Kingdom.