The rand weakened further from its morning levels by noon on Thursday with pressure being added by a slightly stronger dollar, a local trader said.

At 11.50am the rand was bid at 7.5267 to the dollar from 7.4368 at its previous close. It was bid at 11.1940 to the euro from its previous close of 11.1196 and was at 12.5684 against sterling from 12.4267.

The euro was bid at $1.4866 from $1.4961 overnight.

"We have weakened from this morning. We are testing the upper end of the range. If we close above 7.53-7.54, we might reach levels of 7.65-7.68, that is the next technical level," a trader said.

"Pressure is coming from the slightly higher dollar. The rand has also given up against the euro and the pound.

"It's not too unexpected. There is a good chance we will go up to the 7.60 level in the short term," he said.

Earlier RMB analysts John Cairns and Nema Ramkhelawan noted that the US dollar/rand strolled back and forth between 7.48 and 7.40 yesterday.

"The unit is suspended below 7.50 and is likely to trade above this level today as the market appears to be suffering from fatigue. Having retreated to 1.48 earlier this week, euro/US dollar is clawing its way back up to 1.50. The unit, however, does not appear to have the energy to extend itself beyond this level," the analysts said.

They said that weekly US jobless benefit claims, due later today, would offer some indication of the state of labour conditions.

"The rand will take heed of movements in the gold price, which continues to provide support to the unit despite a slight pullback yesterday. We are unlikely to witness extreme fluctuations in the rand, however, given lower levels of volatility and a narrow trading range which has been evident over the last few days," RMB said.

"Besides daily event risk, the market is paying careful attention to comments arising from the US, following Chairman Bernanke's remarks earlier this week, with another prominent Federal Reserve official confirming that US interest rates are likely to remain near zero for an extended period of time," Cairns and Ramkhelawan said.

Bonds lose ground

Bonds had given back their early morning gains by noon on Thursday on the back of a weak rand.

By 12.24am, the short-term government R154 bond was bid at 7.235 percent from a previous close of 7.155 percent. The medium-term R157 was bid at 8.310 percent from 8.280 percent at its previous close, while the long-term R186 was at 8.990 percent from 8.980 percent before.