THE JSE was getting mixed signals from Asian stock exchanges ahead of its opening on Friday morning.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 1.5%, boosted by the Bank of England’s rate cut on Thursday, while mainland China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges were both down slightly.The rand held onto its gains against the pound, trading at about R18/£, following the UK central bank’s interest rate cut to 0.25% from 0.5%.Tokyo’s Topix was down 0.03% while its Nikkei 225 was up 0.2%, again giving no clear direction for the JSE, whose all share index made a miniscule gain of 0.02% on Thursday.In Sydney, BHP Billiton gained 3.2% to A$19.93, helping the S&P/ASX 200 gain 0.35%. BHP closed 1.87% higher at R176.90 on the JSE on Thursday.The US releases its July nonfarm payrolls data on Friday at 2.30pm. Its unemployment rate is expected to have held steady at 4.9%.In SA, the Reserve Bank is scheduled to release July’s foreign exchange reserves on Friday, which are forecast to have declined slightly...
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