The rand was little moved from its morning levels in noon trade on Tuesday, stuck in a tight range amid low volume trade ahead of a dollar holiday on Wednesday.

At 11:36 the rand was bid at 7.4205 to the dollar from 7.4100 at its previous close. It was bid at 11.1235 to the euro from its previous close of 11.1178 and was at 12.3710 against sterling from 12.4335.

The euro was bid at $1.4995 from $1.4999 overnight.

A local trader said: "The rand appears stuck in the 7.40-45 range at present, with very little action, just as the euro is also struggling to break 1.50 against the dollar. With the dollar holiday tomorrow, I don't expect much volume with a range of 7.38-7.52.

"It looks like we are in a period of consolidation following earlier gains.

"I think we will have to see the euro past the 1.50 level, at 1.54 to see further rand strength," he said.

Earlier, the Dow Jones Newswire said that the euro slipped against the dollar, but dealers said the single currency was likely to claw back its losses, as investors' long-term sentiment suggests the greenback would remain under selling pressure as the Federal Reserve may have no choice but to keep its rates low to boost economic growth.

"Dollar-selling is easy to justify as a reasonable bet. You have a view that the Fed won't hike rates, a fact that the recent US economic data weren't good, and a report saying the dollar may still be overvalued," said Yuichiro Harada, a senior dealer at Mizuho Corporate Bank.

The Bureau of Labour Statistics said on Friday that the US jobless rate rose to 10.2 percent in October, its highest since 1983 and much worse than the market consensus forecast for a rate of 9.9 percent. The International Monetary Fund, meanwhile, said in a report published last weekend that "in real effective terms, the dollar has moved closer to medium-run equilibrium though it still remains on the strong side."

The US bond market will be closed on Wednesday due to Veterans Day, and trade volume in the currency markets will likely be thin as a result since the yield on US Treasuries is now one of the main trading factors for currencies, dealers said.

Bonds in the black

Bonds headed into the black during the late morning session on Tuesday in the wake of a reasonably well bid government auction.

By 11.37am, the short-term government R154 bond was bid at 6.970 percent from a previous close of 6.915 percent. The medium-term R157 was at 8.230 percent from 8.240 percent, while the long-term R186 was bid at 8.855 percent from 8.860 percent before.