The rand was a touch firmer in midday trade on Thursday amid a slightly stronger euro, and ahead of US data including July CPI and initial jobless claims.
At 12:08 local time, the rand was bid at 7.1245 to the dollar from its previous close of 7.0832. It was bid at 10.2645 to the euro from 10.2155 before, and at 11.7574 against sterling from 11.7037 previously.
The euro was at US$1.4411 from US$1.4428 before.
A local dealer said that the rand had struggled to break through a "stubborn" level of 7.06 against the buck. He noted that the market would take its direction from economic data out of the US later in the day.
RMB said in a morning note that global markets had stabilised this week but, with investors still nervous, this hadn't translated into meaningful rand and other risky assets gains. Support on US dollar/rand covered the 7.05 - 7.08 range and it appeared unlikely that it would be broken today; with risks rather for ticks up to 7.16.
The group said that investors were mostly awaiting data that would show the extent of the slowdown in the global recovery. "We will receive nothing important on this front today, although there will be focus on the US CPI data in the afternoon: whether core inflation peaks and drops off in the coming months will be important to determine if the Fed moves to another round of quantitative easing," it said.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that there were plenty of fundamental data ahead to offer further insight into the US economy. July CPI and initial jobless claims were due at 12:30 GMT. Philadelphia Fed, existing home sales and leading indicators all at 14:00 GMT.
