The rand was relatively unchanged from overnight levels in the morning session on Wednesday with very little about to drive the local currency, although eyes will still be on how markets react to government proposals to do away with exchange controls, following Treasury's Medium Term Budget announcement.

At 8.55am the rand was bid at 7.6587 to the dollar from 7.6590 at its previous close. It was bid at 11.3685 to the euro from its previous close of 11.3395 and was at 12.5435 against sterling from 12.5329.

The euro was bid at $1.4838 from $1.4811 overnight.

A local trader said: "The Dow and euro threatened late yesterday, but then failed to deliver. There is very little to drive the rand although there is still a danger if we hit 7.74 against the dollar. At 7.64 though we could dip lower to 7.58.

"It will be interesting to see how markets react to governments announcement on exchange controls," he said.

The trader added that CPI should not be a factor.

Dow Jones Newswires reported that the euro fell to a one-week low against the yen in Asia on Wednesday as weak regional share prices prompted investors to decrease their holdings of the risk-sensitive unit.

"The euro will likely keep falling for now because share markets are bearish and unstable again, pushing currency dealers back into risk-aversion mode," said Yuichiro Harada, a senior dealer at Mizuho Corporate Bank.

Risk aversion was triggered by "surprisingly" weak US consumer confidence data overnight, Harada said. The Conference Board reported its consumer confidence index, which had been expected to improve, actually fell to 47.7 in October from a revised 53.4 in September.

Bonds lose ground

Bonds edged slightly lower after the opening of trade on Wednesday with local markets lacklustre after Tuesday's Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS).

By 9.15am, the short-term government R154 bond was bid at 7.350 percent from a previous close of 7.395 percent. The medium-term R157 was at 8.615 percent from 8.690 percent, while the long-term R186 was bid at 9.175 percent from 9.260 percent.