The South African rand was firmer in late afternoon trade on Friday after soft U.S. non-farm payrolls data smashed the dollar.

The data reinforced the view that the U.S. Fed might not increase interest rates at its meeting next Tuesday and market analysts said that the rand could gain more ground in the coming week, according to an I-Net Bridge report.

At 15:54 (1354 GMT), the rand was bid at 6.7911 per dollar from an overnight close of 6.8400.

It was bid at 8.7724 to the euro from a previous 8.7889 and at 12.9778 against sterling from Thursday's 12.9200.

The local currency is expected to trade in a 6.73 to 6.90 range for the coming week.

Source: Xinhua