JOHANNESBURG: The South African rand weakened slightly in early Wednesday trade against the dollar, due to speculation about further lockdown restrictions that could see the domestic economy come under further strain as infections continue to mount.

The country's national coronavirus command council is due to meet at 0700 GMT amid rising COVID-19 cases, sparking the speculation. The meeting comes as deaths due to the coronavirus surpassed 30,000 on Monday.

At 0625 GMT, the rand edged down 0.07% to 15.0000 against the dollar from an overnight close of 14.9900.

The rand opened the session at 15.0025, after breaching the 15 rand mark on Tuesday, and quickly lost more ground, hitting a session weakness of 15.0800.

Bonds weakened, with the yield on the benchmark 2030 government issue up 1.5 basis points to 8.700%.