The rand firmed against a weaker dollar in midday trade on Wednesday, with eyes on CPI and home stats out later in the US.

At 11.35am the rand was bid at 7.4268 to the dollar from 7.4810 at its previous close. It was bid at 11.0819 to the euro from its previous close of 11.1168 and was at 12.4590 against sterling from 12.5678.

The euro was bid at $1.4941 from $1.4862 overnight.

A local trader said: "The dollar is weaker against the majors, while gold continue to rally to new highs, and if this continues we might have a real crack at breaking 7.35 against the dollar.

"Eyes will be on US CPI and home stats out later today," he said.

RMB analysts John Cairns and Nema Ramkhelawan in a morning report noted: "Developments in euro/US dollar remain key as the rand remains bound to movements in the euro. Event risk is limited to US CPI and housing data today, which is expected to print in line with consensus."

Earlier, Dow Jones Newswires reported that traders said the market will be watching the Bank of England's November conference minutes due at 09:30 GMT, and the US October consumer price index and housing starts, both slated for a 13:30 GMT release. If these paint a more bullish picture of the global economy, that could lift the European currency, traders said.

Meanwhile, the US unit declined slightly against the yen to Y89.17, from Y89.30 in New York overnight, as traders bought the yen with currencies such as the Australian dollar and the euro, which involves selling of the US dollar in the process.

Bouth African bonds gained a little mustard at the margin during the course of the morning on Wednesday as some value was seen on the curve.

By 11.45am, the short-term government R154 bond was bid at 7.265 percent from a previous close of 7.205 percent. The medium-term R157 was at 8.370 percent from 8.365 percent at its previous close and 8.390 percent in early trade, while the long-term R186 was at 9.060 percent from 9.035 percent before.