The South African rand strengthened in volatile early trade on Friday, as the dollar moved towards its best week since November.

At 0745 GMT the rand traded at 16.2175 against the dollar, up about 0.6% from its previous close.

The main impetus for the dollar's move is still Kevin Warsh's appointment as chair of the Federal Reserve, said Adam Phillips, treasury specialist at Umkhulu Treasury.

"The ZAR is right on a resistance level. Having been one of the darlings a couple of weeks ago, it has now (become one of) the worst performers...Being an (emerging market) currency with a high beta will always cause volatility."

Central bank data earlier showed that South Africa's net foreign reserves rose to $74.88 billion at the end of January from $71.14 billion in December.

Next week, domestically focused investors will look to the country's statistics agency's release of December mining and manufacturing output figures for clues on the health of Africa's most industrialised economy.

On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Top-40 index was last down 0.2% in early trade.

South Africa's benchmark 2035 government bond was also weaker in early deals, as the yield rose 1.5 basis points to 8.095%.