The rand remained strong in late afternoon trade on Wednesday, moving in line with the euro as the dollar remained on the back foot.

At 3.42pm the rand was bid at 7.2487 to the dollar from 7.3097 at its previous close. It was bid at 10.8230 to the euro from its previous close of 10.8585 and was at 11.5965 against sterling from 11.6243.

The euro was bid at US$1.4907 from US$1.4852 overnight.

"We are strong, and we are dependent on what the euro is doing," a trader said.

"We need the euro to go higher for the rand to test 7.17, if not then we will remain around these levels," he said.

Dow Jones Newswire reports that the dollar is lower but above its weakest levels of the day against most widely traded currencies early on Wednesday, as global risk appetites have been further strengthened by positive corporate earnings reports and economic data.

Recent upside earnings surprises from the likes of Intel Corp. (INTC) and JP Morgan Chase (JPM) gave a significant boost to global risk sentiment overnight, leading to extensions of rallies for many equity markets as well as further advances for commodities like oil and gold.

The positive mood was helped by news from China that its exports hadn't declined as much as the market had anticipated. Instead of falling 21 percent in the year to September, they were down by only 15.2 percent, a big improvement on the 23.4 percent fall registered in August.

The Shanghai Composite Index reflected this with a 1.2 percent rally on the day.

US data was also guardedly positive, as September retail sales declined less than feared with a 1.5 percent monthly contraction, assisted by generally upbeat results outside of the auto sector.

All this has served to accentuate pressure on the dollar, as global capital idled during previous months of financial crisis continues to flow toward higher-yielding and riskier assets.

Currency strategists at HSBC Securities said that for the dollar and foreign exchange markets in general, "the seemingly simple but important assessment" is that higher equity prices continue to help "the risk trade proliferate in a manner that weighs on the dollar and benefits most other G20 currencies".

Poor retail print causes small flutter

Bonds pulled back off their earlier strength to close the day on Wednesday one basis point weaker overall as supply and inflation concerns weighed.

By 3.47pm the short-term government R154 bond was bid at 7.575 percent from a previous close of 7.515 percent. The medium-term R157 was at 8.500 percent from 8.490 percent, while the long-term R186 was at 9.110 percent from 9.070 percent.