NO BIG SURPRISES
Budget message ‘already priced into the markets’
Markets were muted in their reaction to the budget speech on Wednesday
Markets were muted in their reaction to the budget speech on Wednesday with the rand firming marginally in early evening trade and the JSE paring some of its earlier losses. Analysts said there were no real surprises and much of what Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said was already priced into local markets. Property entrepreneur Lew Geffen said that the budget speech was in line with President Jacob Zuma’s message of economic transformation in the state of the nation address. "Gordhan uttered the word transformation about 50 times in his 29-page speech," he said. Although the budget speech appeared to have little effect on the market, the JSE all share did weaken on the day. After trading 0.89% lower at 52,119.19 points at midday, it was 1.19% lower in the mid-afternoon before recovering slightly toward the close to end the day 0.95% weaker at 52,088.60 points. The stronger rand caused the resources and gold indices to retreat more than 2% and platinum stocks were just under 1% wea...
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