S.African stocks rise on metals, rand weakens

* Stocks up 1 pct, for second day of gains

* Rand edges weaker, but govt bonds firm

JOHANNESBURG, June 10 (Reuters) - South African stocks climbed for the second day on Wednesday, propelled by commodity shares on the back of firmer metals prices, but the rand edged weaker after more poor local data.

The JSE Top-40 index of blue-chip stocks .JTOPI rose 1.13 percent to 21,047.24 points and the broader All-share index gained 1.03 percent to 23,286.73 points.

"Commodity prices were up and then just pulled back a bit and the overseas markets have also pulled back, so we're still following global trends," Gideon Muller, a trader at Thebe Securities.

Gold extended gains in Europe as the dollar weakened on news Russia plans to cut the proportion of U.S. Treasuries in its reserves, and as oil prices rose to a new seven-month high.

Bourse and mining heavyweight BHP Billiton (BILJ.J) advanced 3.96 percent to 203.95 rand and rival Anglo American (ANGJ.J) increased 1.62 percent to 235.75 rand as base metal prices cruised higher.

The rand edged weaker as a dollar firmed, while government bonds received a slight boost from dire manufacturing data that will keep pressure on the central bank to continue cutting interest rates.

The local currency ZAR=D3 was trading at 8.0725 against the dollar at 1550 GMT, 0.1 percent softer than its previous close, having given up early gains.

"It strengthened early but that has reversed with the dollar coming back," said Timothy Ash, head of research for Europe, Middle east and Africa at Royal Bank of Scotland.

"It's nothing specific to South Africa but driven by the global story."

South Africa's currency rallied to a near-9-month high of 7.86 against the dollar last week but has since faltered, partly on signs the central bank is using its relative strength to build up dollar reserves.

Local government bonds firmed slightly, despite concerns about inflation due to rising oil prices.

Data showed manufacturing output plunged a record 21.6 percent year-on-year in April, adding to recent poor numbers from the sector.

The fall, exaggerated partly by extra holidays during that month, will back the case for another cut in interest rates at teh next policy meeting later this month.

"We believe that ongoing signs of economic distress will allow for at least another 50 basis points interest rate cut at the end-of-June MPC meeting," Absa Capital said in a note.

Still high inflation, though, may limit its ability to cut much further, it said.

A half percentage point drop will take the repo rate to 7 percent, unwinding the 5 percentage points in hikes between June 2006 and June 2008.

The yield, which moves inversely to the price, on the 2015 bond ZAR157= was down 3 basis points from Tuesday's close at 8.395 percent, while the 2036 ZAR209= yield was 4.5 basis points lower at 8.49 percent.

On the bourse, petrochemicals giant Sasol (SOLJ.J) rose 3.1 percent to 315.50 rand as oil climbed 2 percent to a high of $71.39 a barrel, its firmest level since early November.

The South African unit of the world's largest steel maker, ArcelorMittal SA (ACLJ.J) rose 3.75 percent to 96.45 rand.

Africa's biggest media company Naspers (NPNJn.J), dominated the leaderboard, surging 4.59 percent to 203 rand after it reported that it offered to buy 100 percent of Polish Internet portal Bankier.pl for $19.3 million. (Reporting by Pakama Ngceni, Gugulakhe Lourie and Gordon Bell; Editing by Andy Bruce)