Johannesburg, (Reuters) - South Africa's rand tracked the euro weaker versus the dollar in thin trade on Friday and stocks dipped as lower commodity prices hit miners and lacklustre global equities hurt broader sentiment.

The rand weakened more than 3 percent against the dollar before recouping some of the losses later, taking most of its direction from the euro currency of South Africa's major trading partner, the eurozone.

At 1530 GMT the rand traded at 10.0353 versus the dollar after earlier falling sharply to a session low of 10.16, compared to Thursday's close at 9.8475.

"It's been a bit of a see-saw day for the rand, which was driven largely by what's happening abroad," a Johannesburg-based trader said.

The Johannesburg Top-40 index slipped 0.58 percent to 19,346.28 points, snapping a five-day winning streak, while the All-share index lost 0.43 percent to 21,209.49 points.

"These stocks, particularly on the resources side, have run really hard this week and now there's some profit taking settling in," said Andrew Todd, a trader at BOE Private Clients. "We've seen a huge bear market rally and I wouldn't be surprised to see the market tracking lower next week."

The dollar strengthened against the euro as losses on equities markets and worries about a deepening global recession saw investors opting for the relative safety of the greenback.

The rand appeared to take in its stride domestic data showing South Africa's trade deficit widened to 9.8 billion rand in October, which should add pressure on the current account.

The rand has weakened more than 30 percent against the dollar to date this year, hit by global risk aversion as well as a large current account deficit, at over 7 percent of gross domestic product.

Government bonds fell with the rand, lifting the yield on the benchmark 2015 note 7.5 basis points higher to 8.295 percent while that for the 2036 bond added 9 basis points to 7.91 percent.

On the bourse, miners and construction stocks, which chalked up big gains in previous sessions powered by BHP Billiton's scrapping of its bid for rival Rio Tinto, were among the biggest losers.

Diversified miner Exxaro fell 4.8 percent to 71.40 rand while platinum miner Impala Platinum dropped 5.38 percent to 124 rand and Kumba Iron Ore tumbled 7.33 percent to 158 rand.

Miner Metorex Ltd lost more than a third of its value, plunging 38.22 percent to 2.35 rand after it announced plans to raise 922 million rand ($92.89 million) through new shares and debt.

Furniture retailer Steinhoff fell 2.29 percent to 10.65 rand after Fitch revised its outlook on the stock to "negative" from "stable" on concerns about an economic downturn in its key markets of southern Africa, Britain and Europe.

Some financial stocks suffered in line with their peers in Europe on nagging worries about an economic downturn. Investment bank Investec fell 5.29 percent to 43 rand and insurer Sanlam dropped 3.23 percent to 16.50 rand.