The rand lost a bit of ground against the dollar on Friday, and could extend past 8.14-15 against the greenback according to a local trader who said the market had been caught short dollars.

At 9am the rand was bid at 8.1162 to the dollar from a previous close of 8.0600. It was bid at 11.6441 to the euro from a previous 11.5505 and at 13.5930 against sterling from 13.4937.

The euro was bid at US$1.4361 from US$1.4353 overnight.

A local trader said: "The market has been caught short dollars, we have seen foreigners buying dollars. We could see the rand push up to 8.14-15 at some point, and perhaps even higher.

"Non-farm payrolls data is out later in the US, that will have some effect on the markets," the trader said.

Dow Jones Newswires reports that a weak tone in the Japanese share market fuelled risk aversion and caused the dollar to fall slightly against the yen in Asia on Friday, though trading was subdued ahead of anxiously awaited US jobs data later in the day.

Speculation that the employment figures might be worse than expected, because other recent US data have been disappointing, also weighed on the dollar against the euro, traders said.

"Weak jobs data would make players think that US consumer spending will remain stagnant and that the pace of the economic recovery may get slower," said Hiroshi Maeba, a senior dealer at Nomura Securities.

If July's US non-farm payrolls data are worse than expected, the dollar could head down toward Y94.00 later on Friday, traders said. The headline figure for the data, due out at 12.30pm GMT, is forecast to show that 275 000 jobs were lost during the month, according to a Dow Jones consensus forecast.

Weak US jobs figures could also push the euro toward $1.4400, traders said.

"Players have bought so many euros this week that they can't increase their holdings much more without adjusting their portfolios," said Yuji Saito, head of foreign exchange at Societe Generale. "The US jobs data may give them a good opportunity to square positions."

Bonds quiet, eye currency

Bonds were steady in extremely quiet early trade on Friday ahead of a long weekend for local players. South African markets are closed on Monday for the Women's Day public holiday.

By 9am the short-term government R153 bond was bid at 7.890 percent and offered at 7.790 percent from 7.845 percent at it previous close. The medium-term R157 was at 8.465 percent from 8.470 percent, while the long-term R186 was bid at 8.905 percent from 8.900 percent before.