Johannesburg - South Africa's rand pared losses on Monday after dropping sharply in erratic Asian trade with dealers talking of Japanese sellers in a very illiquid market.
The rand was 2.39 percent weaker at 16.71 against the US dollar by 05h53 GMT, stabilising after falling as much as 10.3 percent at one stage in Asian trade to reach 17.9950 per dollar, by far its weakest level ever.
South Africa's currency has hit several record lows already this year on concerns about slowing growth in Africa's most developed economy and in line with weakness across many emerging markets on expectations of further US interest rate hikes.
REUTERS