The rand retreated against the dollar on Friday morning as the greenback posted gains against some of its major rivals.

The local currency was however little moved against the other major currencies.

At 12.10pm the rand was bid at 9.5284 to the dollar from an overnight close of 9.3425. It was bid at 12.8176 to the euro from a previous 12.6519 and at 13.6592 against sterling from 13.5039 before.

The euro was bid at US$1.3583 from $1.3525 overnight.

"The rand has comne off a bit because of dollar strength. We've seen some big moves by the dollar, particularly against the pound," a local currency trader said.

Dow Jones Newswires reports the dollar is mixed in Europe Friday as uncertainty over next week's G20 summit in London and the European Central Bank's rate decision meeting in Frankfurt cast shadows over sentiment.

End-of-month trading is also encouraging market participants to reduce exposure - leaving currencies with little real sense of direction.

Risk appetite remains relatively strong.

Equity markets in Asia were mixed, with the Nikkei in Japan losing 0.1 percent, but European bourses were opening higher, reflecting the brighter 2.3 percent gain posted by the Dow Jones Industrial Average Thursday.

Some of the negative sentiment in Japan could have come from news that the country slipped back into deflation last month with the consumer price index declining 0.1 percent on the year. These pressures are expected to continue, with the economy showing little sign of an early bounce.

As a result next week's industrial production data and the latest Tankan survey from the Bank of Japan will come under even greater scrutiny as investors try to gauge how much further the Japanese economy will contract.

Next week's summit of G20 leaders in London is also casting a long shadow over sentiment as the market waits to see whether the group will come up with any new initiatives for helping the global economy.

Although hopes of some fresh fiscal stimulus have now disappeared, there is still some uncertainty over whether some of the leaders will give backing to suggestions from China this week that greater reserve status should be given to an SDR-linked currency.

Next Thursday's ECB meeting is also providing another excuse for market participants to reduce exposure. Although the central bank has indicated that it remains opposed to quantitative easing, it is still likely to come under pressure to boost liquidity as the euro-zone economy continues to falter.

With Japanese investors also doing last minute adjustments before the fiscal year-end, there are few fundamentals to which movements of the major currencies can be pinned.

Sterling, for example, found itself falling sharply. News that the contraction in fourth-quarter UK GDP was revised down to 1.6 percent from 1.5 percent weighed on the currency. However, the pound was falling even before the numbers were released, with sellers appearing as it broke below support at $1.4450.