JOHANNESBURG, Dec 4 Reuters The South African rand was weaker in early trade on Monday against a stronger dollar ahead of a datafilled week both locally and abroad.

At 0705 GMT, the rand traded at 18.6800 against the dollar , about 0.3 weaker than its previous close.

The dollar last traded around 0.2 stronger against a basket of global currencies.

Local data releases include thirdquarter gross domestic product, October and November business confidence index data and whole economy PMI.

Markets await employment data out of the U.S. on Friday for further hints on the interest rate path of the economic powerhouse after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell last week said the Fed would move carefully on interest rates.

Like other risksensitive currencies, the rand often takes it cues from global drivers such as U.S. monetary policy.

On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the bluechip Top40 index was up about 0.3 in early trade.

South Africa39;s benchmark 2030 government bond was slightly stronger in early deals, with the yield down 3 basis points at 9.950.

Reporting by Tannur Anders, Editing by Bhargav Acharya and Louise Heavens

Source Reuters