JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand firmed sharply against the dollar on Monday as gold climbed to another record high, while local stock futures pointed to a positive open on the bourse.

The JSE's blue-chip Top-40 December futures contract was up 1.12 percent ahead of the 0700 GMT start of trade after stocks fell on Friday.

The rand was trading at 7.54 against the dollar, 1.02 percent firmer than Friday's New York close of 7.6175. It briefly touched 7.5320 earlier, recouping some of its losses from late last week.

"We are probably going to be in the 7.48 to 7.62/dollar range. Gold is obviously the reason the rand is back from the 7.60 levels. It seems to be fairly good for emerging markets and commodity currencies," said a local trader.

Gold, a major South African export, powered to a record above $1,160 an ounce on Monday after a rally in the dollar ran out of steam.

South African government bonds were mixed, with the yield on the 2015 issue steady at 8.355 percent and that on the 2036 note down 0.5 basis points to 8.775 percent.

Investors are focusing on a slew of data this week, which commences with third quarter GDP data on Tuesday.

A Reuters poll last week showed the local economy is expected to have exited its first recession in 17 years with a 0.2 percent annualised growth in the September quarter after three consecutive quarters of contraction.