Pure diusion quantum Monte Carlo calculations have been carried out for Be 2 and the weakly bound group 12 dimers Zn 2 , Cd 2 and Hg 2 . We have applied relativistic energy-consistent large-core pseudopotentials and corresponding core-polarization potentials for the group 12 atoms. The derived spectroscopic constants (R e , D e , x e for Zn 2 and Cd 2 (Zn 2 : 3X88 AE 0X05 Ê A, 0X024 AE 0X007 eV, 25 AE 2 cm À1 ; Cd 2 : 4X05 AE 0X03 Ê A, 0X031 AE 0X005 eV, 21 AE 1 cm À1 ) are in good agreement with corresponding coupled-cluster results (Zn 2 : 4X11 Ê A, 0.022 eV, 21 cm À1 ; Cd 2 : 4.23 Ê A, 0.029 eV, 18 cm À1 ) and available experimental data (Zn 2 : 0.034 eV, 26 cm À1 ; Cd 2 : 0.039 eV, 23 cm À1 ). A comparison with previous results for the heavier homologue Hg 2 is made. Using a multireference trial wavefunction for Be 2 we achieved a suciently accurate description of the nodes of the wavefunction to obtain a bonding interaction within the ®xed-node approximation. The applicability of this approach has been justi®ed in pseudopotential and allelectron calculations. Covalent bonding contributions which appear in addition to pure van der Waals interactions for these molecules are analysed in terms of local occupation number operators and the associated interatomic charge¯uctuations. Static dipole polarizabilities for group 12 atoms and dimers are calculated using a dierential quantum Monte Carlo method for ®nite external electric ®elds. We have extended this method to pseudopotential calculations by taking into account the electric ®eld dependence of the localized pseudopotentials. Within the statistical uncertainties our results agree with those from coupled-cluster calculations.