The rand traded 0.36% weaker at 14.3600 against the dollar as of 1702 GMT, after firming to a new three-week high of 14.2275 earlier in the session.
The dollar recovered from a fall on Wednesday brought on by the release of an unexpectedly weak private employment report.[USD/]
Market focus was on U.S. non-farm payroll numbers due on Friday.
The non-farm payrolls is an important parameter to determine the U.S. Federal Reserve's future policy stance, which impact markets including riskier currencies such as the rand that thrive on U.S. rates staying low because they benefit from their appeal for carry trade.
Government bonds weakened alongside the currency, with the yield on the benchmark 2030 instrument up 6 basis points to 8.855%.
In the equities market, stocks rose as tech companies Naspers and its subsidiary Prosus recovered from the previous session's decline, tracking gains in Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings as Chinese state media toned down criticism of the video game industry.
This comes a day after the outlet branded online games "spiritual opium", driving down shares in Tencent, with the panic spilling over to holders of its shares and gaming rivals.
Naspers, through Prosus, holds around a 30% stake in Tencent. Johannesburg-listed shares of Prosus jumped 3.15% while Naspers rose 2.81%.
Other notable gainers was the country's third largest telecom company Telkom, up 0.84$ after it reported a 7.3% rise in first quarter group core earnings.
(Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Nqobile Dludla; editing by Jason Neely and Sandra Maler)
