By 1515 GMT the rand had gained 0.58 percent to 13.6400 per dollar, compared to a close at 13.7200 on Friday.
With no significant domestic data releases in the session, the rand looked offshore for direction and took advantage of investors' dollar jitters.
The rand touched a session best of 13.6200 and briefly looked poised to test resistance around 13.4000 before stalling as some invertors continued to cash-in on the recent rally.
Higher commodity prices also supported the local unit. Spot gold was up 0.3 percent.
Government bonds weakened, with the benchmark 2026 issue adding 6 basis points to 8.625 percent. Stocks fell in line with volatile global markets amid uncertainty and soured risk sentiment.
On the stock market, the benchmark Top-40 index fell 1.05 percent to 44,963 points, while the All-Share index dropped 1 percent to 51,479 points.
The biggest losers among blue-chips were pharmaceutical giant Aspen which fell 3.32 percent to 311.31 rand, gold miner AngloGold Ashanti which was down 2.35 percent to 221.75 rand, and South Africa-based investor Brait which slipped 2.85 percent to 109.57 rand.
Trading volumes were low, with 194 million shares changing hands compared with last year's daily average of 296 million.