S.Africa's stocks fall, rand gains against dlr

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand fell sharply to a 3-week low against the dollar on Friday as investors dumped riskier assets amid debt woes in Dubai before staging a strong recovery on profit-taking in later trade.

The local benchmark stock index ended weaker, hitting a two-week low, with gold shares the top losers.

The Johannesburg Top-40 index lost 0.84 percent to 24,271.03 points, while the broader All-Share index slipped 0.8 percent to 26,808.74 points.

At 1539 GMT the rand traded 1.12 percent firmer at 7.4111 against the dollar compared to Thursday's close at 7.4950.

The local currency had stumbled 2 percent to 7.6450 earlier on Friday, its weakest level since November 5, tracking a slump in global markets as concerns over Dubai's debt crisis prompted a sell-off amongst investors.

"Once European bourses showed some signs of stabilisation the sellers came back in dollar/rand," said Nicholas Kennedy, an emerging markets analyst at 4cast.

"The local unit still looks vulnerable to dollar swings though and we'd expect more volatility near-term," he added.

The JSE gold index shed 1.89 percent as investors' fears of a possible Dubai debt default sent bullion down nearly 5 percent to a one week low.

Gold Fields dropped 3.23 percent to 107.99 rand followed by Harmony Gold, which slid 2.96 percent to 81.50 rand.