The rand briefly hit a session high of 7.62 to the dollar, a turn-around from a 14-month low of 7.75 seen earlier. By 0818 GMT, it was trading at 7.6560, not far from Monday's New York close of 7.65.

After starting the session on a weak note, bonds gained. The yield on the 2015 issue fell as much as nine basis points to 6.89 percent and that on the 2026 note was down by the same margin to 8.32 percent.

Copyright Reuters, 2011