A close stronger than 8.50 will be seen as a sign that the rand might not weaken further.

Trading volumes were thinner as US markets were closed for Thanksgiving holiday.

Government bonds were mixed and yields, which move inversely to the price, were off two-month highs after sharp losses in the previous session.

The rand was trading at 8.4830 to the dollar at 1610 GMT, 1.2 percent stronger than Wednesday's New York close of 8.5850.

"The domestic currency has pulled back somewhat, likely on profit taking, and it could even move right back to 7.95/dollar - the quarter average to date," said Annabel Bishop, economist at Investec in a note.

Bishop said there was a 50 percent chance it could end the year at 7.95 if the euro zone "institutes a range of measures which will convince markets that its sovereign debt crisis will not spill over into a financial meltdown (without further bad news from the US or other major economies)".

The rand has lost has lost over 28 percent against the dollar so far this year, mainly as investors dump risky assets on worries about how deep the euro crisis will go.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan is due to speak at around 1800 GMT in Johannesburg and may re-iterate government's concerns about the impact of the euro zone crisis.

On fixed income, the yield on the 2015 bond was down two basis points to 6.98 percent and that on the 2026 issue was up 0.5 basis points to 8.66 percent.

"The R157 yield still targets levels of 7.10 in the short-term, where an overhead trendline is expected to give some support, and see bids return to market," said Tradition Analytics in a note.

"In light of the rand sell-off and substantial rise of bond yields, interest must be piqued in a big way for foreigners to up exposure to domestic bonds once again."