South Africa's rand largely flat, market awaits trade

Reuters
A street money changer counts South African Rands in Harare, Zimbabwe, May 5, 2016. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand was mostly flat against the dollar on Friday as the market awaited trade data that would give a clue on the state of the export sector. * At 0643 GMT rand trades at 14.1720 to dollar, down just 0.26 percent from Thursday's close. * Rand off a session high of 14.0800 reached earlier in Friday's session, its strongest since Nov. 2015. * Weak economic outlook likely to cap rand gains, with Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan warning growth of 4 to 5 percent will not be seen for some time. * June trade data due at 1200 GMT, 7.2 billion rand surplus expected. * Local bourse to open up slightly at 0700 GMT, blue chip futures index adds 0.29 percent. * Government bonds edge higher, yield on 2026 benchmark dips half a basis point to 8.74 percent. (Reporting by Stella Mapenzauswa; Editing by Tiisetso Motsoeneng)