Rand’s rally good for JSE banks, bad for miners
Mixed Asian markets raise doubts about whether the local bourse will take its rally to 10 straight days of gains
The rand has strengthened 2.3% so far this week, from R13.82/$ on Monday to R13.51/$ on Thursday morning. The dollar sank against most currencies on Wednesday 8pm South African time, when the minutes of the US Federal Open Market Committee’s most recent meeting were released. These showed US monetary policy decision makers divided on whether interest rates should be raised again this year or not. The rand’s rally against the dollar was good for the JSE’s banks on Wednesday, with Nedbank rising 2.1% to R212.90, Standard Bank 2.03% to R166.26, Barclays Africa 1.76% to R146.02, Capitec 1.7% to R198 and FirstRand 0.88% to R53.70. As usually happens when the rand strengthens, the JSE’s miners suffered. DRDGold fell 3.23% to R5.09, Gold Fields 3.08% to R55.97 and Harmony 2.95% to R24.66. The banks helped the JSE’s all share index rise 0.24% to a fresh record 57,771 points and the top 40 index added 0.15% to 51,439 points. But whether Thursday will be the JSE’s 10th consecutive day of gain...
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