South Africa's rand touches one-week high

South Africa's rand firmed to a one-week high to the dollar on Thursday before retreating slightly, as the greenback softened ahead of widely watched US employment data due on Friday. At 1515 GMT the local unit had firmed 0.46 percent to 11.9400, having earlier gained over half a percent to a one-week high against a broadly weaker dollar.
"The dollar is softer across the board, which must be due to some profit taking," said Lee Naisbitt, a trader at Rand Merchant Bank. The index measuring the dollar against a basket of major currencies showed the unit 0.65 percent softer on the day, despite mostly positive data from the US leading up to the Friday employment figures.
The rand tumbled to a 13-year low in early March while the dollar soared after solid US job numbers fuelled bets the Federal Reserve would hike interest rates by June.