Johannesburg - The South African rand ended slightly firmer to the dollar on Friday, although it struggled to find momentum given the lack of market-moving news.
The rand was at 10.5000 to the greenback at 17:05 SA time, or 0.28 percent firmer.
The local unit hovered around 10.55 for most of the session, before staging a late advance toward the 10.48 level it touched twice this week but has been unable to maintain.
“The rand is drifting toward the bottom ranges,” said Jim Bryson, a rand trader at Rand Merchant Bank.
“We need to push through the 10.40s to really start generating downside support.”
News that over 200,000 members of the Numsa trade union have opted to continue a strike, seemed to have already been absorbed by the market.
The upcoming week does see the release of domestic producer price inflation data as well as the latest unemployment numbers.
In fixed income the paper due in 2015 edged stronger, with the yield falling 1 basis point to 6.64 percent.
However, the yield on the paper maturing in 2026 added 4 basis points to 8.19 percent. - Reuters