South African rand gains as worries ease of US involvement in Middle East

JOHANNESBURG, June 20 (Reuters) - The South African rand was up on Friday, as most emerging markets benefited from easing worries of an immediate U.S. involvement in the Iran-Israel conflict.

At 1436 GMT, the rand traded at 18.00 against the U.S. dollar ZAR=D3, up 0.2% from Thursday's close.

The dollar =USD edged up 0.1% against a basket of currencies, while crude oil prices LCOc1 dropped over 2% after President Donald Trump pushed back a decision on U.S. military involvement in the hostilities.

Domestically, investors will look to producer inflation ZAPPIY=ECI and leading indicator ZALEAD=ECI data due next week to gauge the health of Africa's most industrialised economy.

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange's Top-40 index .JTOPI was little changed despite drops between 1% and 3% at most gold and platinum miners, and of more than 6% at petrochemical firm Sasol SOLJ.J.

South Africa's benchmark 2035 government bond ZAR2035= was stronger. The yield fell 8 basis points to 10.06%.