At 1605 GMT the rand had strengthened 1.24 percent against dollar to 13.3225, just off its strongest level since May 5, putting some distance between the recent 13.4500 resistance level it has struggled to break this week.

The currency brought gains for the week to nearly 3 percent as it outpaced most of its emerging market peers.

"The rand failed at 13.70, and it was looking overbought at those levels, so it looks as if its just moving within the ranges while there's no bad news out there," said currency trader at Rand Merchant Bank Jim Bryson.

The rand started the week off on the back foot after the victory of a centre-left candidate in the French presidential election and increased signs of an interest rate hike in the United States but has steadily gained ground as risk currencies and commodities returned to favour.

The rand plunged about 12 percent in the wake of President Jacob Zuma's shock removal of Pravin Gordhan as finance minister in late March, which triggered credit downgrades to junk by two rating agencies.

The rand has however recovered its footing as new Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba pledged to keep the country on the path of fiscal consolidation.

In fixed income, government bonds dipped with the yield for the benchmark instrument due in 2026 closing 0.5 basis points up to 8.740 percent.

The yield for the benchmark government bond due in 2026 was almost flat at 8.74 percent.

On the bourse, the benchmark Top-40 index fell 0.31 percent to 47,489 points while the All-Share index dropped 0.26 percent to 54,114 points.

Mondi Group dropped 2.39 percent to 344.78 rand after its first-quarter underlying operating profit fell 6 percent and the company announced plans for maintenance that would wipe about 80 million euros ($87 million) from 2017 operating profit.

"The market was expecting a lot better trading update so it was disappointed in the numbers," said Cratos Capital equities trader Greg Davies.