The rand traded sideways in quiet trade late on Tuesday, having recovered slightly from its weakest levels, but analysts said the local unit was “not out of the woods just yet.”
Recent pressure on emerging-market currencies, triggered in part by political upheaval in Turkey, seemed to have waned, with the Turkish lira and other emerging-market currencies trading off their worst levels.
However, a local analyst said the release of the US Federal open market committee minutes on Wednesday, as well as the nonfarm payrolls employment report due on Friday would play a key role in determining the direction the rand and other emerging-market currencies would take.
At 3.27pm, the rand was at R10.6243 to the dollar from its overnight close of R10.6285.
Against the euro, the rand was at R14.4900 from R14.4839 at its previous close and was at R17.4237 against the pound from R17.4401 at its previous close.
The euro was at $1.3637 from $1.3628 at its previous close.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires predicted a small downshift in December payrolls. The median forecast is for a gain of 191 000 nonfarm jobs.
The December jobless rate is forecast to hold at the five-year low of 7% posted in November.