JSE firms as banks and retailers claw back some of the week’s losses
The JSE closed higher on Friday, after the rand staged a mild recovery to the dollar, helping retailers and banks pare significant losses sustained in the previous two days.The local unit firmed against all major currencies, but remained significantly weaker from before Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba’s medium-term budget policy statement on Wednesday.The rand largely determined the direction of the local bourse this week, with rand hedges and miners pushing the JSE to record levels. The dollar has also been buoyant, but this helped put a lid on commodity prices, analysts said.While stronger on Friday, this week the rand also reacted to positive UK and US economic data for the third quarter, and a European Central Bank decision to extend monetary policy stimulus, albeit at lower levels, to September.Local equity markets had mainly tracked their international counterparts, which have had a good run driven by plentiful global liquidity, said Nedbank Group Economic Unit analysts.The per...
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