Johannesburg - South Africa's rand hovered near the previous day's 8-month highs against the dollar on Friday, with scope to lose further ground as recent data suggests US interest rates could rise earlier than expected.
By 08:40 SA time the rand traded at 11.2075 to the greenback, more or less where it ended Thursday's session in New York.
The rand had tumbled to 11.2250 on Thursday, its weakest level since early February, as investors betting on higher rates in the United States gravitated to the greenback.
With no domestic data due on Friday to give the rand direction, traders and analysts said the market would look to US GDP figures for further pointers on the likely timing of monetary tightening in the world's biggest economy.
“Given that we, along with consensus, believe that the US GDP figure will show an improvement today, the rand will likely continue in its weaker trend heading into the weekend,” Barclays Africa said in a note.
The rand has dropped nearly 2 percent against the dollar over the past week, and 7 percent since the start of the year.
South African government bonds were mostly flat on Friday, with the yield for the benchmark 2026 government bond unchanged at 8.165 percent. - Reuters