The rand was quiet in the afternoon session, losing only a fraction against the dollar with the local currency set to track US equity markets for further impetus.

At 3.45pm the rand was bid at 7.4580 to the dollar from 7.4483 at its previous close. It was bid at 10.4242 to the euro from its previous close of 10.4337 and was at 11.8960 against the sterling from 11.9196.

The euro was bid at US$1.3957 from US$1.3975 previously.

A local currency trader said: "We have seen the rand pretty quiet since about 10 am this morning. It has come off only a fraction to its current levels.

"US equity markets will be the driver, but I still think that even if the rand heads up to 7.50 against the dollar, it would still signify rand strength."

RMB analysts John Cairns and Nema Ramkhelawan noted in a presentation that much discussion recently had centred on the strength of the rand, how it is damaging the economy and how the authorities should do something about it. However they noted that US dollar/rand was only now back to last year's ranges and was still much higher than previous years.

"Euro/rand has fallen even further but is still much higher than previous years

"Inflation deflates away the effects of the weaker rand. Higher US dollar/rand over time is justified by the rands's higher inflation rate relative to the US. The same goes for all the other crosses," they said

The Rand is stronger than historical averages when adjusted for inflation, "but the rand has been at even stronger levels in the past," RMB said.

Earlier, Dow Jones Newswire reported that the euro gained against the dollar Wednesday after the European Commission accepted Greece's budget- reducing plan, though the common-currency came off its highest levels of the day reached overnight.

Many currency analysts said the acceptance of Greece's plan, in which it detailed how it would strip spending from an over-the-limit budget, had already been "priced in" to the euro, limiting its gains on the report's release.

Early Wednesday, the euro was at $1.3990 from $1.3964 late Tuesday, according to EBS via CQG.

The European Commission accepted Greece's plan to slash its budget deficit but warned that further spending cuts and new taxes might be needed to fix the country's public finances.

Greece has pledged to bring its budget deficit below three percent of gross domestic product by 2012, following a shortfall of close to 13 percent in 2009. Under European Union rules, countries must keep their budget deficits below 3 percent of GDP.

Investors reacted positively to the commission's acceptance of the Greek plan. The spread between yields on 10-year Greek and German government bonds was between 332 and 338 basis points Wednesday, down from 353 basis points late Tuesday.

The euro had gained to an overnight high of $1.4027 ahead of the report, but had given back most of those gains by the time it was released.

"The euro has again had a somewhat muted response to the (commission's) official announcement on the Greek stability plan despite the recovery in the Greek bond markets," said analysts at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York.

Bonds tad weaker, lack direction

Bonds were a few basis points weaker in late trade on Wednesday which traders attributed to some profit-taking.

However, in the absence of any real drivers, they continue to trade in a fairly tight range.

By 3.55pm the short-term government R154 bond was bid at 7.210 percent after closing at 7.155 percent on Tuesday and the medium-term R157 was at 8.350 percent after closing at 8.305 percent previously. The long-term R186 was bid at 9.165 percent from 9.100 percent previously.