South Africa's rand hits 13-1/2 year-low against dollar

South Africa's rand fell to a 13-1/2-year low against the dollar on Friday in nervous trade hours ahead of a Fitch credit rating review and a stronger dollar buoyed by strong U.S. jobs data.
The rand fell to a session low of 12.6600, its weakest since Dec. 2001, according to Thomson Reuters data.
It was trading at 12.6150/dollar by 1550 GMT, down 1.82 percent from Thursday's close.
Data showed that U.S. job growth accelerated sharply in May and wages picked up, signs of momentum in the economy that bolster prospects for an interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve in September.
"The U.S. jobs number came in considerably stronger-than-expected ... it brought back talk of the U.S. interest rate coming in much sooner so the rand was just a victim of that," said Bart Stemmet, an analyst at NKC African Economics.
The rand has also been under pressure this week as market participants await a Fitch credit rating review on South Africa.
Fitch, which is due to release its report towards evening, said in March it might downgrade its sovereign rating on South Africa in June, citing weak economic growth.
"A large portion of people think that we might get a bit downgraded later, I don't know how much of that is priced in already but it certainly will be a compounding factor," Stemmet said.
Fitch maintained its BBB rating for South Africa in December last year.