Graphic: renjith krishnan

The rand gave up some of Friday's gains in late afternoon trade as a worse-than-expected fourth quarter GDP releases saw growth currencies such as the Australian dollar, Brazilian real and rand sold.

“The rand has gained more than 20 cents in the past three days, so it was looking over-bought even before the disappointing US GDP release,” a local rand trader said.

“The rand has done very well this week and is set to continue next week. The only fly in the ointment is the eurozone crisis as that has not yet been solved. If the euro tanks, we will follow,” another trader said.

Friday's best level was 7.74 against the dollar from Wednesday's worst level of 8.06 per dollar.

At 16:04 local time, the rand was trading at R7.7845 to the dollar from its previous close of R7.8192. It was trading at R10.2045 to the euro from R10.2301 before, and at R12.2243 against sterling from R12.2495 previously.

The euro was trading at US$1.3108 from its previous close of US$1.3087.

Dow Jones Newswires reported that the US dollar rose against most other major currencies in the moments after a report on Friday showed fourth-quarter US gross domestic product fell short of forecasts.

A disappointing GDP report is a sign that economic growth might not be as strong as thought, which typically leads investors to sell growth-sensitive currencies like the Australian dollar and buy perceived safe harbours like the US dollar.

US GDP rose 2.8% in the fourth quarter, short of the 3.0% economists had forecast as personal consumption spending grew more slowly than expected.

Eurozone leaders might meet on Monday evening to discuss Greece's latest problems in reducing its debt levels, the Financial Times Deutschland reported on Friday.

An additional meeting of eurozone leaders immediately after the official European Union summit on Monday could be ruled out, the newspaper said, citing people close to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy.

However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy were against such a meeting, according to the report.

European Union Economics Commissioner Olli Rehn warned on Thursday that eurozone governments might have to increase their contribution to Greece's debt deal, as Greece and its private-sector creditors struggled to reach agreement on the level of write-downs. - I-Net Bridge