South Africa's risk-sensitive rand, stocks and government bonds lost ground on Friday with the possibility of new developments in the United States' trade deal negotiations leaving investors cautious heading into the weekend.

At 0755 GMT, the rand traded at 17.7150 against the dollar, down 0.5% on the day.

It lost about 0.7% on Thursday, weighed down by a stronger US currency and weaker gold price after about a week of gains.

ETM Analytics said the dollar's move higher on Thursday could have triggered "position-squaring ahead of the weekend, where fresh news might break ahead of the Trump administration's tariff deadline" on August 1.

"Investors will not want to hold any significant positions given the US decision-making volatility," the research firm said in a note.

Next week local attention will turn to the South African central bank's interest rate announcement on July 31.

Many traders and analysts expect another rate cut after inflation edged up only modestly in June, moving just inside the central bank's target range.

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange's Top-40 index was down 0.9% in early trade. The benchmark 2035 government bond weakened, as the yield rose six basis points to 9.875%.