S.Africa rand firms on gold, dollar; stock futures flat

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand firmed in early trade on Tuesday, buoyed by a softer dollar and a strong gold price, but local stock futures were flat after two days of losses.

Wall Street rose and Asian markets were steady, while a gold price rising towards last month's record high should help to support the resource-heavy Johannesburg bourse.

The blue chip Top-40 December futures contract was down 0.08 percent at 0640 GMT ahead of the market open at 0700

GMT.

The rand was trading at 7.8945 against the dollar, about 1 percent stronger than its previous close in New York.

The greenback and yen lost ground against higher-yielding currencies after manufacturing and other data showed further evidence of economic recovery, dampening safe-haven demand.

"It might be a day for a recovery in the (rand) currency. The dollar seems to be losing steam and commodities seem to be recovering a bit," Bidvest Bank chief trader Ion de Vleeschauwer said.

"Maybe a bit of a rest day for rand weakness," he said, adding a break of 7.85 was key and could stave off another bout of weakness.

Investors would watch for news from a South African central bank report on the health of the financial sector to be released at 1000 GMT, while new vehicle sales data was due at 0900 GMT.