JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand scaled new 2014 peaks on Thursday, extending gains from the previous session after the release of minutes of the Federal Reserve suggesting policymakers will be more cautious about raising interest rates than markets had thought.

The minutes of the US Fed's March meeting showed officials fretted that investors would overreact to policymakers' latest views on interest rates that appeared to map out a more aggressive cycle of rate hikes than was actually anticipated.

At 0720 GMT, the rand was at 10.36/dollar, slightly firmer from Wednesday's New York close of 10.3830 and its highest level since Dec. 27.

Investors will also watch February mining and manufacturing data on Thursday.

The former is expected to highlight the impact of a damaging strike in the platinum sector.

Government bonds gained, with yields for the benchmark 2026 paper down seven basis points to 8.280 percent and the 2015 note 5.5 basis points lower to 6.66 percent.