The rand softened in morning trade on Thursday, tracking a weaker euro.
A local dealer said that the rand would continue to look internationally for direction with US data expected out later in the day including CPI data and initial jobs data.
At 9.20am local time, the rand was bid at 7.1305 to the dollar from its previous close of 7.0832. It was bid at 10.2726 to the euro from 10.2155 before, and at 11.7788 against sterling from 11.7037 previously.
The euro was at US$1.4394 from US$1.4428 before.
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.
"There is little new to report. The disappointment over the French/German summit has led to some worries that Italian and Spanish yields will blow out again but there are no signs of this as yet.
"The Swiss, meanwhile, have completely failed in their attempts to control swissie strength; yesterday's injection of liquidity into the money market resulted in the local unit strengthening," RMB said.
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 US data due later included the July consumer price index, weekly initial jobs data and the Philadelphia Fed survey for August.
Meanwhile, the euro eased against the dollar in Asia as the weak stock market in the region reduced demand for the single currency, traders said.
Bonds firmer; quiet day expected
South African bonds were firmer in early trade on Thursday, with a trader noting that a quiet day might be on the cards given the recent rally.
Bonds have had a strong run on the back of global jitters that have fuelled significant foreign buying interest of local bonds.
By 08:50, the benchmark R157 bond was trading at 6.750 percent from 6.790 percent at the previous close. The R207 was bid at 7.790 percent and offered at 7.770 percent from 7.805 percent and the R186 was trading at 8.085 percent from 8.100 percent
