The rand was little changed against hard currencies shortly before midday on Wednesday, with cautious trade expected to continue ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s federal open market committee’s interest-rate decision, later in the day. The Fed is expected to increase interest rates by 25 basis points to 1.25%. Analysts expect circumspect trading ahead of the announcement — which takes place after the JSE closes — despite expected economic data releases on Wednesday afternoon. Market pricing going into the event was 99.6% for an increase, but barely 50% for another by December, Rand Merchant Bank analyst John Cairns said. "The devil will be in the statement after the fact," TreasuryOne currency dealer Andre Botha said. Statistics SA retail trade data for April is expected at 1pm local time, while earlier the RMB/BER business confidence index (BCI) showed that business confidence in the second quarter of 2017 plummeted by 11 points to 29. A score below 50 indicates contraction. All f...
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