The JSE opened flat on Tuesday as sentiment remained cautious ahead of Wednesday’s medium-term budget policy statement and the expected pullback in quantitative easing (QE) by the European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday. Volumes traded were barely R1bn an hour after trading commenced. The rand has not provided much direction to the market, steady at R13.71/$. The euro could trade in volatile fashion ahead of the ECB decision. FxPro analysts said the market wanted to know how the central bank would pare back a bond-buying programme that started more than two years ago. Monthly bond purchases by the central bank total about €60bn, with many analysts predicting that this will drop to between €20bn and €30bn a month. At such a pace, it would make an increase in eurozone interest rates highly unlikely until 2019. "Some extended volatility in the euro can be expected once the scale of tapering is announced," FxPro said, The Dow closed 0,23% lower at 23,273.96 points on Monday, the first n...
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