South Africa's rand hands back early gains to end flat

South Africa's rand was flat against the dollar on Friday, struggling for direction after surprise gains in the face of a darkening growth outlook following a week of nationwide power cuts and ongoing uncertainty over US-China trade talks.

At 1530 GMT, the rand was 0.07% firmer at 14.4790 per dollar, hardly budged from the morning's open as investors awaited details of a cabinet decision on how to deal with a

crisis at power utility Eskom.

South Africa's government on Friday asked industry for the cheapest and quickest options to ease a power crunch, as cabinet held an emergency meeting to try to resolve a crisis threatening growth in Africa's most industrialised economy.

The benchmark JSE Top-40 Index climbed 1.81% to 50,499.02 points while the broader All-Share Index rose 1.78% to 56,815.08 rand.

Financials were the biggest winners on the blue-chip index on the back of a firmer rand. Insurance and specialised finances company Discovery topped the bourse, up 6.13% at 122 rand.

Banks followed, with Absa Group up 5.14% to 152.88 rand, and Standard Bank Group rising 4.36% to 169.50 rand.

Materials shares acted as a drag as gold prices fell and investors switched to riskier stocks. AngloGold Ashanti was down 5.37%, while Goldfields fell 3.27%.