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Johannesburg - The rand was hardly moved in the afternoon session on Tuesday sitting in a tight range ahead of the local budget speech on Wednesday.
At 15:38 the rand was bid at R7.6920 to the dollar from R7.7119 at its previous close. It was bid at R10.5235 to the euro from its previous close of R10.4845 and was at R12.0851 against the sterling from R12.0707.
The euro was bid at $1.3660 from $1.3597 previously.
A local currency trader said: "We have barely moved, with very little action today ahead of the budget. The range is R7.68-R7.74 against the dollar.
"As far as breaking news is concerned looking to drive markets, Greece is becoming less of a factor. It is likely to be bailed out by the EU in some form or other," he said.
Earlier, Dow Jones Newswire reported that an improvement in risk appetite helped the euro to stage a small rebound in Europe on Tuesday.
However, currency markets remain jittery, dominated by the ongoing talks by eurozone finance ministers over Greece's debt problems.
UK inflation jumps
Uncertainty over the talks is helping to limit the euro's gains while other high-risk currencies, such as the Australian dollar, have staged a larger rebound.
The main market focus remains, however, on Greece and the ongoing discussions in Brussels. European officials have increased pressure on Greece to implement more spending cuts rather than rely on a rescue package from the European Union.
However, Greek officials continue to resist introducing any more austerity until the middle of March, when the EU is due to scrutinise the country's deficit reduction plans.
In the meantime, financial markets are anxious to see if the Brussels meeting, due to end later on Tuesday, produces any more details of a Greek bailout.
Economic data from the eurozone did provide some good news for the euro with the latest ZEW business sentiment index from Germany coming in at 45.1. This was down from 47.2 in January but a lot higher than the 41.5 that had been forecast.
Elsewhere, the UK reported that inflation jumped to 3.5% last month from 2.9% in December. This wasn't as high as the 3.7% that the consensus had expected and has probably helped to lower expectations that the Bank of England will have to raise rates later on.
- I-Net Bridge