Oct 5 (Reuters) - South Africa's rand weakened on Wednesday as the excitement of the previous day's rally in stocks and risk-friendlier currencies wore off and the U.S. dollar rebounded.
At 1651 GMT, the rand traded at 17.8550 against the dollar, down 1.28% from its previous close.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six other major currencies, rose 1.116% to 111.41, after suffering its heaviest setback in over two years on Tuesday.
S&P Global's South Africa PMI survey released on Thursday showed domestic private sector activity contracted in September as increased power cuts led to the sharpest declines this year in both output and sales.
Stocks on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange closed lower, with the benchmark all-share index and the Top-40 index both down 1.06%.
The government's benchmark 2030 bond was weaker in afternoon deals, with the yield down 7.5 basis points to 10.715%. (Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru and Nellie Peyton in Dakar; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu, Kirsten Donovan)
