Johannesburg - The rand softened against the greenback in midday trade on Tuesday having earlier reached an 11-week high.
The local currency however, was range bound, tracking euro/USD play, with the former coming off its earlier highs against the greenback.
At 11:30 the rand was bid at 7.2862 to the dollar from 7.2679 at its previous close. It was bid at 10.5307 to the euro from its previous close of 10.4657 and was at 11.7286 against sterling from 11.7243.
The euro was bid at $1.4428 from $1.4422 overnight.
A local trader said: "Things are a bit choppy this morning, liquidity is still thin. We continue to track the dollar against the euro, which has come off a fraction from its earlier highs.
"The range is 7.25-7.35 against the dollar," he said.
Dow Jones Newswires said that in the European foreign exchanges Tuesday, the dollar and the pound were weaker as investors looked ahead to Friday's US nonfarm payrolls data.
At 09:20 GMT, the euro was trading at $1.4425, up from $1.4413 in late New York trading Monday. The dollar was also quoted at ¥91.97, down from ¥92.51, but sterling was at $1.6061, down from $1.6085.
Dealers said that currency market participants are unlikely to make any aggressive moves ahead of the employment data, which are key in formulating a long-term investment strategy.
Earlier, it reported that the dollar ended the first full day of 2010 trading under pressure, and that theme continued into Tuesday's trade.
Despite a very strong ISM manufacturing reading of 55.9, the market instead focused on rallying stocks and commodities and moved out of the greenback, favouring riskier assets.
Commentary from Federal Reserve governor Elizabeth Duke late Monday also weighed on the dollar as she reminded the markets that the Fed expects economic conditions to probably warrant exceptionally low interest rates for an extended period.
