The dollar last traded at 102.870, around 0.4% weaker against a basket of global currencies.
"After kicking off the week on the front foot, the has come under notable selling pressure, with the market, by and large, taking direction from external developments," said Kieran Siney of ETM Analytics. The rand slipped in the second half of the week after comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday alluded to further interest rate hikes to tackle inflation, giving the dollar a boost.
However, the rand has still appreciated by more than 4% against the dollar since the start of June, making it the second-best-performing emerging market currency this month, Siney said. "The rand did fairly well compared to its EM peers in the past two weeks and a period of consolidation was warranted," said Andre Botha of TreasuryONE.of 16.41 billion rand in May, compared to a shortfall of 17.13 billion rand in the same month a year earlier.widened to 10.20 billion rand in May from a revised 3.97 billion rand in April, revenue service data showed.