The rand firmed in the afternoon session on Monday, pushed by a stronger euro, and a firmer gold price.

The US is today celebrating Columbus Day, a national holiday there.

At 3.37pm the rand was bid at 7.3875 to the dollar from 7.3850 at its previous close. It was bid at 10.9128 to the euro from its previous close of 10.8795 and was at 11.7050 against sterling from 11.7040.

The euro was bid at $1.4791 from $1.4718 overnight.

A local trader said: "It has been a pretty quiet day. We saw a weaker euro at the start of the day, but it strengthened during the course of the day taking the rand with it, and also driven by a firmer gold price."

Gold was recently quoted at $1054.69 a troy ounce.

Dow Jones Newswires reports that the euro gained on the dollar in early morning trading Monday as European equities tracked higher, leading to increased risk appetite, analysts said.

Trading was expected to be light during the New York session because of the U.S. Columbus Day and Canadian Thanksgiving holidays. U.S. bond markets are closed, but equities will trade.

With no economic data on Monday's calendar, currencies will take their cue from stocks, with strengthening equities leading to heightened risk appetite and a stronger euro. Consolidating stocks are likely to benefit the dollar, analysts said.

Currencies are likely to trade in tight ranges for the rest of the New York session, as investors aren't likely to take big positions ahead of global economic data and corporate earnings to be released later in the week, analysts said. Corporate earnings, which have come in mostly positive, have been a boost to the euro and other higher-yielding currencies.

Bonds off worst, but unsteady

Bonds were off their worst levels of the day on Monday afternoon thanks to buying into weakness, but remained a tad weaker ahead of the government auction on Tuesday.

By 3.19pm the short-term government R154 bond was bid at 7.370 percent from a previous close of 7.465 percent. The medium-term R157 was at 8.430 percent from 8.405 percent.