The rand was firmer in early trade on Thursday on the back of a recovery in the euro.

"The euro bounce has given the rand a welcome reprieve, but we are not yet out of the woods, as the whole Greek tragedy is far from resolved," a local trader said.

At 08:00 local time the rand was bid at R8.2836 to the dollar from Wednesday's close of R8.3155, Tuesday's close of 8.3275 and Monday's close of R8.1983. Just a week ago the rand was below R8 per dollar.

It was bid at R10.5639 to the euro from R10.5775 before, and at R13.1549 against sterling from R13.2299 previously.

Gold was trading at $1551.10 per ounce.

The euro was bid at US$1.2790 from Wednesday's close of $1.2721 and Wednesday's worst level of $1.2680.

Absa Capital said the rand's performance against the US dollar had replicated the movement in the trade-weighted US dollar index since the beginning of the month, which implied that the broad-based US dollar movements continued to dictate the rand's fortunes.

"After weakening to a fresh 5-month low of 8.39 on Wednesday, rand bears ran out of steam in the afternoon session thereby ensuring that the local unit went into the close at similar levels to those that were seen at the day's outset - this was once again a mirror image of the topping out of the dollar index.

"Yesterday's better than expected US housing and manufacturing data collectively ensured that the dollar lost some of its safe-haven appeal (surrounding the increased global growth concerns that have plagued the market in recent weeks) and as a consequence rand weakness abated. Rand bears might also have lost some of their enthusiasm as result of yesterday's local retail sales data, but as alluded to above our sense is that global, rather than domestic factors continue to have a more profound impact on the rand.

"Although we still argue that the rand has become fundamentally undervalued this month, rand bulls are likely to remain nervous until there is more certainty about how the Greek situation is going to play out. Thus while we see value in buying rand at current level over the medium term horizon, the short-term outlook for the rand remains precarious.

Dow Jones Newswires reported that the euro consolidated slightly on Thursday in Asia amid a brief respite in new developments in Greece, whose political uncertainty has battered the common currency in recent days.

With market participants on the look-out for Greece-related headlines, Japan's stronger-than-expected gross domestic product data for the January-March quarter was largely shrugged off.

The spasm of panic in Greece about a possible exit from the euro zone may have passed for now, but deposit withdrawals from local banks are continuing ahead of fresh elections. Greek judge Panagiotis Pikrammenos was sworn in as prime minister late Wednesday to head a caretaker government that will lead the country to the new polls in June.

"The euro will likely remain wobbly for a while until the issue over Greece is sorted out," said Shuichi Kanehira, head of FX spot trading at Mizuho Corporate Bank.

Japan's latest GDP figures had little impact on the forex market. Data showed earlier in the day that Japan's economy grew an annualized 4.1 percent in the January-March quarter, compared with an expected 3.5 percent rise, as resurgent domestic demand and government spending helped fuel recovery from last year's natural disasters and supply chain disruptions that had suppressed growth.

Besides headlines coming out of Europe, the market will be looking at US weekly jobless claims and Philadelphia Fed business outlook survey due later in the global day.