The rand was a little weaker against the dollar on Friday just before midday, in cautious trade ahead of the release of US economic growth data. Other emerging-markets currencies were also mostly flat against the dollar, which was weaker against a basket of currencies. An uptick in second-quarter US GDP is widely expected later in the afternoon. The greenback has been under pressure following the US Federal Reserve’s decision to keep interest rates on hold on Wednesday. Markets, however, expect the central bank to increase interest rates at its next meeting in September. Rand Merchant Bank analyst Isaah Mhlanga said that until then, economic data and Fed speeches will be closely watched as they will indicate if the bank "will follow the market and back off from hiking for the third and last time this year, which will be one less hike than it promised at the beginning of the year". At 11.31am, the rand was at R13.0415 to the dollar from R13.0003, at R15.2712 to the euro from R15.1755...
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