JOHANNESBURG, July 17 (Reuters) – The South African rand experienced a weakening trend against a strengthening dollar during early trading on Thursday. This movement was primarily influenced by investors' focus on the ongoing G20 meeting of finance chiefs, held in Durban, a coastal city in South Africa.

As of 0637 GMT, the rand was trading at 17.8975 against the dollar, reflecting a depreciation of approximately 0.4% compared to its closing position on Wednesday. Concurrently, the dollar had gained about 0.4% against a basket of other currencies.

With a relatively quiet domestic economic calendar, market participants are closely monitoring the meeting of the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors, scheduled for Thursday and Friday. In addition to the rand's performance, South Africa's benchmark 2035 government bond also showed weakness in early trading, with its yield increasing by 1.5 basis points to 9.895%.