>>>You are confusing a value returned by datetime() function with what is displayed
>>
>>Sergey,
>>
>>kindly explain.
>
>DateTime is stored internally as Date + (seconds/86400.0) and is independent of any settings. SET commands come in effect when you try to display the value or convert it to a string.


OK, I got it, it seems that Set Hours and Set Date together can accomplish a correct 12-hour time notation.
This works for me:

lcOldDateSetting =SET('date')
SET date USA
SET HOURS TO 12
? TTOC(DATETIME(),2)
SET DATE &lcOldDateSetting

Thanks,
Koen