The rand was marginally weaker in early trade on Tuesday as subdued global cues continued to affect investors’ sentiment.

At 08:44 the rand was bid at R8.2364 to the dollar from its previous close of R8.2286. It was bid at R10.1181 to the euro from its previous close of R10.1286 and at R12.7636 against sterling from R12.7639 before.

Gold was trading at US$1583.50 per ounce.

The euro was bid at US$1.2293 from its previous close of $1.2315.

RMB said in its morning report that markets were edgy due to concern over the eurozone crisis flaring up again.

“Yesterday’s sharp losses didn’t sustain‚ with US equities and EUR/USD fighting back from aggressive lows. This leaves USD/ZAR where it started yesterday but with definite upside risks. We wouldn't be surprised by 8.30 again today‚” said RMB.

A local trader said: “The rand is just tracking the euro; nothing really to expect until normality returns to global markets.”

The euro slid slightly versus the dollar and yen in Asia on Tuesday amid continuing concern over the sustainability of Spanish government funding‚ with Madrid's 10-year government bond yield back above the 7 percent mark‚ Dow Jones Newswires said.

Little reaction was seen in the market to news in the morning that eurozone finance ministers in Brussels have given Spain until 2014 instead of 2013 to cut its government deficit to below 3 percent of gross domestic product and promised EUR30bn in available funds by the end of July to start a bail-out of the country’s banks. Tokyo dealers said the deals had largely been expected.

Bonds quiet ahead of auction

The South African bond market was quiet on Tuesday morning‚ ahead of the weekly bond auction at 11:00.

The National Treasury will auction R500m worth of R204 bonds‚ R800m of R2023 bonds and R800m of R213 bonds.

“There is nothing happening at the moment. We may have some action around auction time‚” a local trader said.

At 08:45‚ the benchmark R157 bond was bid at 5.945 percent and offered at 5.925 percent from Monday’s close of 5.945 percent and Friday’s close of 5.950 percent. The R207 was bid at 7.015 percent and offered at 6.985 percent from a previous close of 7.010 percent and the R186 was trading at 7.860 percent from its previous close of 7.865 percent.