The South African rand weakened in early trade on Thursday ahead of the release of domestic manufacturing data.

At 07:18 GMT the rand traded at 18.31 against the dollar, about 0.2% weaker than Wednesday's close.

Statistics South Africa is scheduled to publish March manufacturing output data at 1100 GMT.

Economists polled by Reuters predict the manufacturing sector will register year-on-year growth after declining in the previous four months.

A research note by local bank Nedbank pinned the expected growth on a relative reprieve from power outages and port challenges.

Central bank data early on Thursday showed a rise in the country's net foreign reserves to $64.318-billion at the end of April from $63.167-billion in March.

The risk-sensitive rand is also likely to take its direction from dollar movements as financial markets await the outcome of the US-China trade talks this weekend, analysts said.

The benchmark 2030 government bond weakened slightly in early deals, as the yield rose 2 basis points to 8.905%.