South Africa's rand firmed on Friday, adding to the previous session's gains as hopes of further stimulus in China helped developing world currencies hold their ground against the dollar. At 1505 GMT the rand was 0.34% firmer at 15.2275 per dollar, bringing gains to 1.2% since Wednesday when the currency tumbled to just shy of an 11-month low.

The rand has fallen more than 6% since the beginning of August, pressured by the rising likelihood of a credit ratings downgrade by Moody's linked to a massive, additional bailout for state power firm Eskom and signs of slower global growth. "The rand is among the biggest losers of the recent depreciation trend among many EM currencies as a result of falling global risk appetite," Commerzbank said in a note.

Copyright Reuters, 2019