The rand stumbled against the dollar in late afternoon trade on Monday, even as ratings agency Standard & Poor's issued a warning on US sovereign debt.
"The dollar might have sold off against the major currencies but it may not have been sold off very aggressively against the rand," a local currency trader said.
At 15:57 local time, the rand was bid at 6.8651 versus the dollar from its previous close of 6.7944. It was bid at 9.8220 to the euro from 9.8034 before and at 11.1939 against sterling from 11.0707 at its previous close.
The euro was bid at US$1.4274 from US$1.4428 previously.
Meanwhile, Dow Jones Newswires reported that Standard & Poor's cut its outlook on US government debt to "negative" from "stable" on Monday because of ongoing concerns over the long-term fiscal health of the country.
S&P was unsure that the "gulf of differences" between Republicans and Democrats over how to reduce the deficit could be overcome to provide meaningful change, said David Beers, global head of sovereign debt ratings at S&P.
S&P doesn't "see a push for a meaningful agreement in the next two months" as the administration had targeted, Beers said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires.
Even if there was an agreement, there was still uncertainty about the scope of any plan and how long it would take to implement it, Beers said.
The underlying trajectory of the government's debt burden was still rising, Beers added.
If that trend continued, the US's credit profile would diverge from those of comparable AAA-rated sovereign debts, he said.
S&P did confirm the current top-notch rating for the US when it changed the outlook.
The cut in outlook meant there was a one-in-three chance the rating would be cut in the next two years, Dow Jones Newswires said.
