The rand was softer against the dollar - but off its worst levels of the day - in noon trade on Friday as US and European debt woes continued to trouble the markets.
"We'll keep our eyes on the data coming out today such as the US retail sales figures due this afternoon and we'll also watch Dow futures," a local currency trader said.
"I'm not sure why the euro has suddenly firmed - a possible reason is bond buying by the European Central Bank (ECB)," the trader added.
At 11:55 local time, the rand was bid at 7.2065 to the dollar from its previous close of 7.1851. It was bid at 10.2660 to the euro from 10.2249 before, and at 11.7158 against sterling from 11.6558 previously.
The euro was at US$1.4241 from US$1.4224.
Standard Bank said in a morning note that the rand remained vulnerable to the global growth outlook and sovereign debt fears, which is why it still expected a return to 7.50 rand, if not 7.80 rand to the greenback.
"If this afternoon's US retail sales data (a leading indicator for US economic activity) disappoints, we would once again be looking to target 7.38 rand to the topside.
"If the data impresses, a near-term retrace to 6.96 rand is possible - but we would still take advantage of such a move to accumulate more dollars."
Meanwhile Dow Jones Newswires reported that it was expected that the ECB would buy EUR170 billion to EUR300 billion of Spanish and Italian bonds in the coming four weeks.
This was according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
While EUR170 billion was a "reasonable estimate" of the amount that could be bought over the first 17 business days since the announcement, the front-loading of that amount might be a lot smaller than what was seen when the bond buying program started in 2010.
The EUR170 billion would represent 9% of the Italian and Spanish outstanding bonds, similar to what the EUR40.5 billion, bought between May 10 to June 1 of 2010, represented for Greece, Ireland and Portugal combined. I-NET BRIDGE
