At 1649 GMT, the rand traded at 18.8400 against the dollar, 1.41% stronger than its previous close.
The dollar index was last at 102.240, down more than 0.8% against a basket of global currencies.
The U.S. economy added the fewest jobs in 2-1/2 years in June, the Labor Department said in an employment report that also showed 110,000 fewer jobs were created in April and May than earlier reported.
The rand slumped the previous day as the Federal Reserve's June meeting minutes revealed a hawkish policy stance, prompting investors to move away from riskier assets.
On the stock market, the Top-40 and the broader all-share indices closed around 1% higher.
However, shares in Telkom fell almost 7% after the company said it had rejected an unsolicited offer led by its former CEO.
South Africa's benchmark 2030 government bond was weaker in afternoon deals, with the yield rising 7.5 basis points to 10.770%.
(Reporting by Tannur Anders and Anait Miridzhanian;Editing by Bhargav Acharya, David Goodman and David Evans)
