S.Africa's rand gains vs struggling dollar, stocks up

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand gained as much as 1.6 percent to a week's high against the dollar on Wednesday, as data pointing to better prospects for the U.S. economy boosted risk appetite.

Blue-chip stocks also ended higher, lifted by commodity prices which rode on the weaker dollar.

The Johannesburg Top-40 index rose 0.56 percent to 24,911.55 points, while the broader All-Share index gained 0.41 percent to 27,489.24 points.

At 1556 GMT the rand traded 1.49 percent firmer at 7.3535 to the greenback compared to Tuesday's close at 7.4650.

It touched 7.3415 earlier in Wednesday's session, its strongest level since November 17, according to Reuters data.

"We saw the dollar softening across the board today and that has added support to the rand, and we've seen its strengthening quite substantially," a rand trader in Johannesburg said.

The rand also received a boost from gold, a key export earner for South Africa, which hit record highs above $1,180 an ounce on Wednesday.

Strong metals prices also cheered the local bourse, where miners were the top performers, with the JSE mining index up 1.31 percent.

"The resources are the winners of the day," said Andrew Todd, a trader at Imara SP Reid. "It's really a function of a weaker dollar that resulted in these commodity prices picking up."