JSE comes off its session highs as stronger rand knocks rand hedges
Industrial stocks and banks outperform, with the latter sector building on last week’s 3% gains ahead of the mid-term budget
The JSE came off the day’s best level at lunchtime on Monday, thanks to a relatively stronger rand that took the shine out of the big rand-hedge stocks. The all-share index was up 0.44% to 51,856.60 points, after rallying by up to 0.90% in earlier trade. Sasfin Securities deputy chairman David Shapiro said the market generally lacked momentum and trend. "It is not an easy environment. One has to be careful and cautious to make sure that money is ploughed into good quality companies," Shapiro said. Industrial stocks and banks outperformed, with the latter sector building on last week’s 3% gains ahead of the mid-term budget on Wednesday, which analysts say will be factored in when rating agencies review SA’s credit rating in the next two months. Peter Brooke, a fund manager at Old Mutual Flexible Fund, said the effect of the credit downgrade would be on investor confidence and the interest that the country pays on its debt, rather than on asset prices. "Due to general sentiment, marke...
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