Investors were looking to US jobs numbers due later on Friday for clues on the timing of rate hikes in the world's biggest economy.
The was at 12.7295 to the dollar at 0634 GMT, just 0.11 percent off Thursday's New York close at 12.7150.
Government bonds were similarly flat, with the yield for the 2026 benchmark dipping half a basis point to 8.215 percent.
The rand hardly shifted after the South Africa Reserve Bank said net gold and foreign exchange reserves slipped to $41.007 billion in July from $41.59 billion in June.
Like other emerging market currencies, the rand has fallen prey to expectations that policy tightening in the US is imminent, and has given up 10 percent of its value since the start of the year.