* Rand boosted by U.S. jobs
* Stocks dragged lower by miners (Adds latest prices, analyst comment)
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 3 (Reuters) - South Africa's rand gained more than one percent to just short of a two-month peak on Friday after a jobs report from the United States showed wages there remain subdued, dimming the chances of an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
Stocks fell, dragged lower by mining companies that were hurt in part by a pullback in metal prices.
By 1545 GMT, the rand ZAR=D3 had strengthened 1.2 percent to 13.2200 against the dollar, after earlier reaching 13.2075.
The rand had drifted around the 13.4500 resistance point for most of the session, with little in the local market to push the unit definitively past the level it has struggled to break since mid-January.
"Markets were focussed on the wage number, and it came in lower than expected. The initial reaction by the rand was that you wouldn't see imminent and aggressive interest rate hikes by the Fed in future," said chief economist at Stanlib Kevin Lings.
While the world's top economy added 227,000 jobs in January, the largest gain in four months, wage growth was modest, prompting bets the Fed would keep lending rates unchanged in March, having kept them unchanged on Wednesday. the bourse, the benchmark Top-40 index .JTOPI slipped 0.97 percent to 45,417 points while the All-Share index .JALSH dropped 0.86 percent to 52,265 points.
Kumba Iron Ore KIOJ.J , a unit of Anglo American AAL.L , led the slide by commodity miners, falling 7.9 percent to 196 rand by close after the firm said it would pay 2.5 billion rand ($186 million) to settle a tax dispute with authorities. Platinum IMJ.J fell 6.5 percent to 51,20 rand, Exxaro EXXJ.J slipped 4 percent to 103,75, while Sibanye Gold SGLJ.J shed 3.7 percent to 30 rand.
Overall the mining index .JMINI was down 3.74 percent on the day, reflecting a dip in global metal prices, with platinum XPT= , copper CMCU3 and silver XAG= all down close to one percent.
Bonds also firmed, with the benchmark paper due in 2026 ZAR186= cutting 2 basis points to 8.83 percent.