JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand weakened more than one percent versus the dollar on Tuesday before recouping most of its losses, following on a late recovery in European equity markets. Local stocks ended slightly in the red, dragged down mostly by financial and mining counters. The rand weakened to a six-week low of 7.79 against the greenback as global appetite for risk fell on the back of renewed global credit worries before clawing back to trade at 7.7020 at 1555 GMT, 0.09 percent firmer than its previous close of 7.7090. "I think there has been a recovery in the rand which is related just to an improvement in global equity sentiment," said Lucy Bethell, a currency strategist at the Royal Bank of Scotland. European stocks ended higher on Tuesday, cutting back on some of the previous day's losses as Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS recovered, while a fall in oil prices also buoyed sentiment. South Africa's share market however ended a touch weaker, with the Top-40 index shedding 0.06 percent to 29,835.46 points and the broader All-share index slipping 0.12 percent to 31,688.24 points. "There is no real spark to our market today," said Tubby Goodwin, a trader at Investec Securities. African Rainbow Minerals, South Africa's second-largest black-owned mining group, took the biggest hits among blue-chips, shedding 4.50 percent to 284.60 rand. Iron ore producer Kumba Iron Ore declined 3.19 percent to 334.01 rand while cement maker PPC lost 2.60 percent to 33.70 rand. Financial stocks dipped on expectations of another domestic interest rate increase next week, with Liberty Group down 2.28 percent at 71 rand and investment banking and asset management group Investec Plc losing 1.75 percent to 50.01 rand. Gold Fields Ltd, the world's No. 4 gold producer, shed 0.56 percent to 98 rand and diversified miner BHP Billiton was down 1.76 percent to 290.80 rand. Government bond yields fell, with the heavily-traded 2010 note down 7 basis points to 11.55 percent and the yield on the benchmark 2015 note losing 9 basis points to 10.14 percent. | 
