THE South African rand gained early on Friday, benefiting from a dip in the dollar before a highly anticipated speech by US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell later in the day.
At 6.22am GMT, the rand traded at 14.8800 against the dollar, roughly 0.4 percent firmer than its previous close.
The currency was on course for gains of more than 2 percent this week, lifted by a rebasing of gross domestic product data that showed the domestic economy was 11 percent bigger in 2020 than previously thought.
The dollar was down around 0.1 percent against a basket of peers, as global investor attention was pinned on a Fed central banking symposium where Powell is due to speak around 2pm GMT.
Many investors expect Powell to strike a more dovish tone than other Fed officials who have recently downplayed the economic impact of the Delta coronavirus variant or called for an early tapering of the bank's pandemic-era stimulus measures.
If Powell does prove dovish, it is likely to support risk-sensitive currencies like the rand, which have been boosted by the Fed's ultra-loose policy.
South Africa's benchmark 2030 government bond was a touch weaker in early deals, with the yield rising 1.5 basis points to 8.88 percent.
REUTERS