JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand came off earlier highs against the dollar on Thursday, dragged lower by data showing a contraction in manufacturing output, suggesting the economy is still struggling to grow. The rand traded at 8.8960 to the dollar at 1530 GMT, little changed from Wednesday's close at 8.9010 in New York. The currency touched a 6-week high of 8.8572 earlier, before Statistics South Africa reported that factory production fell 2.9 percent year-on-year in February, the first contraction in five months. ...