The rand was a tad weaker than its noon levels in late afternoon trade on Wednesday on the back of a slight recovery in the dollar.

At 3.45pm the rand was bid at 8.0765 to the dollar from an overnight close of 7.9854. It was bid at 11.4668 to the euro from a previous 11.4161 and at 13.2949 against sterling from 13.2312.

The euro was bid at US$1.4176 from US$1.4306 overnight.

"The rand had weakened a little. The dollar has come back," a local trader said.

"The rand is weaker mainly on the back of the dollar/euro coming off the 1.43 level," another trader said.

"The market is also watching Dow futures which are slightly negative at the moment.

"The rand/dollar is finding good support around the 8.00 figure and there is resistance around 8.12," he said.

Dow Jones Newswires reports that the dollar found some favour against the euro and other riskier currencies on Wednesday morning as global stocks declined on profit-taking.

There is some caution returning to the market, with US stock futures pointing lower and supporting the funding currency ahead of testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Market positioning is also on the dollar's side after three consecutive months of weakness.

"The short dollar trade has become a bit crowded," said Brian Dolan, chief currency strategist at Forex.com. "The real money managers are buying back dollars, selling most other currencies."

This led the euro to intraday lows on Wednesday morning - after overnight hitting multi-month highs - against the dollar and yen. It fell as low as US$1.4153 and Y135.80, recently.

The weaker tone in markets early on Wednesday was reinforced by a private-sector jobs report, days before the government's much-awaited non-farm payrolls report. The ADP National Employment Report from Automatic Data Processing and Macroeconomic Advisers showed private sector employment decreased by 532 000 in May.

On Wednesday morning, the euro was at US$1.4178 from US$1.4314 late on Tuesday, while the dollar was at Y95.95 from Y95.53, according to EBS. The euro was at Y136.07 from Y136.78. The pound was at US$1.6475 from US$1.6583, and the dollar was at CHF1.0697 from CHF1.0806.

Bernanke will testify on the economy and financial conditions before the US House panel on the budget at 10 a.m. EDT, the same time as the May ISM non-manufacturing index and April factory orders are released.

Markets are looking to see if Bernanke will comment on whether the Fed will increase the size of its asset purchase programme and about the run-up in long-end yields and mortgage rates.

Bonds weaker on rand, supply issues

Bonds were weaker in late trade on Wednesday on the back of supply issues and a softer rand.

President Jacob Zuma's maiden State of the Nation address to Parliament, which yielded no real surprises and was generally perceived as positive, had no impact on the fixed interest market.

By 3.45pm the short-term government R153 bond was bid at 6.935 percent from its previous close of 6.700 percent. The medium-term R157 was at 8.330 percent from 8.280 percent, while the long-term R186 was bid at 8.875 percent from 8.780 percent before.

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