Marcus said the strong rand should be seen in the context of what is happening in the global currency market and, in particular, as a function of the weakness of the US dollar.
"There is not a rate that is a perfect rate. It is not the bank's role or desire to intervene in the market to achieve a particular rate of exchange," she told Parliament's portfolio committee on finance.
Marcus said the central bank only went into the monetary market to bolster its reserves, not to manipulate the trading levels of the rand.
"We intervene only to build reserves."
The bank has recently bought euros and sterling to increase its gross foreign reserves from around 28 billion dollars to 40 billion dollars.
Marcus said there were advantages and disadvantages to both a strong rand and a weak rand, and that the bank would be pleased if the currency stabilised.
"The currency is volatile. There is no doubt about that and ideally we would like to see a more stable currency."
The Reserve Bank, Treasury and trade unions have all warned that the economy will be harmed by the rand's gains of more than 25 percent against the greenback this year.
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