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Johannesburg - The rand ploughed 11-day lows against the dollar on Friday, and was likely to remain under pressure ahead of United States jobs data that analysts expected to boost the case for the Federal Reserve to start raising interest rates.
The blue-chip Top 40 futures index was down 1.08%, suggesting the local bourse would open at least 484 points lower at 09:00.
At 08:43 the rand was at R13.6430/$, down 0.58% from where it ended Thursday's trade in New York.
The local unit hit a session low of 13.7460 earlier on Friday, its weakest since August 24.
The rand has given up more than 18% of its value against the greenback this year, sagging under the pressure of weak domestic growth and a general lack of appetite for risky emerging markets as investors anticipate higher US rates.
In the latest sign of strain on the domestic economy, a survey released on Thursday showed business confidence fell to a 16-year low. The rand fell as much as 1.5% against the dollar after the report was released.
"Today the market awaits the key US labour numbers, a big day for risk as the market waits to see how the Fed will act at its next meeting," Standard Bank trader Oliver Alwar said on Friday.
"Risk aversion is high (and) given how skittish and illiquid the markets are, suggest keeping things as light and tidy as possible."
Government bonds also got off to a wobbly start, with paper maturing in 2026 yielding 3 basis points higher at 8.505%.
