The South African rand slipped in early trade on Friday, adding to losses late the previous day, when the dollar surged on better-than-forecast US economic data.

At 0740 GMT the rand traded at 17.46 against the dollar, down about 0.2% on Thursday's close of 17.43.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against major peers, climbed 0.6% on Thursday after figures on US economic growth, unemployment claims, durable goods, and wholesale inventories all beat expectations.

Andre Cilliers, currency strategist at TreasuryONE, said the global market focus on Friday was on another closely watched US indicator, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure, due out later in the day.

The rand largely shrugged off this week's local economic data releases, including a sharper-than-expected rise in producer inflation and an increase in a business cycle indicator that gauges the economic outlook.

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange's Top-40 index was flat. South Africa's benchmark 2035 government bond was also little changed, the yield up 1 basis point at 9.15%.