The rand firmed against a softer euro in the afternoon session on Thursday.

A trader noted that primary rand movement was against the single currency following further debt concerns in Greece.

The local currency was also firm against the US dollar.

At 3.47pm the rand was bid at 7.2793 to the dollar from 7.3500 at its previous close. It was bid at 9.9747 to the euro from its previous close of 10.1129 and was at 11.1484 against the sterling from 11.1827.

The euro was bid at US$1.3675 from US$1.3766 previously.

A local currency trader said: "Rand movement has been against the euro, following more debt issues coming out of Greece."

Earlier, Dow Jones Newswires reported that fears of Greece's debt problems still being far from resolved and may yet need to involve the International Monetary Fund sent the euro reeling in Europe Thursday.

The pound, which had been staging a rebound earlier this week, also found itself back under selling pressure.

Greece returned very much to centre stage for financial markets after a Greek official said that his country will probably turn to the IMF for aid if more concrete help is not offered by the European Union at a summit meeting next week.

With the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou also acknowledging that his government is in close contact with the IMF, there is rising concern that efforts by the EU to resolve the debt crisis on its own are falling apart.

Ever since Monday, when finance ministers from the Eurogroup pledged to provide help for Greece if needed, financial markets have been working on the assumption that a resolution to the problem was in sight. The cost of Greek debt eased slightly and the euro itself had recovered some of its previous losses.

However, talk of Greece involving the IMF, very much against the wishes of Germany - the country most likely to provide the funds in any emergency bail-out hit the market like a bombshell Thursday.

Not only did the euro decline but global equity markets turned down once again as investors put the whole euro zone debt issue back on their worry lists.

By 10.12am GMT, the euro had fallen to $1.3685 from $1.3775 late on Wednesday in New York, according to EBS.

The single currency was also down at Y123.31 from Y124.21 and at CHF1.4481 from CHF1.4487 while the dollar fell to Y90.12 from Y90.24.

The dollar was also up at CHF1.0579 from CHF1.0517 while the pound fell to $1.5306 from $1.5362. The pound did fall as low as $1.5238 earlier in the day.

Bonds continue to be buoyed by rand

Bonds continued to draw strength from a strong rand in quiet trade on Thursday.

By 4pm the short-term government R154 bond was bid at 6.995 percent and offered at 6.975 percent after closing at 7.050 percent on Wednesday and the medium-term R157 was at 8.165 percent from 8.180 percent at its previous close. The long-term R186 was at 8.950 percent from 8.970 percent previously.