The rand continued to provide direction to local equity markets on Friday, with the JSE just a few hundred points from the psychologically significant 60,000-point level. Rand hedges led the gains on the local bourse, while gold and platinums failed to capitalise on the weaker currency due to softer precious metal prices. A plummet by Lonmin weighed on the platinum index. A series of economic releases and global central-bank decisions during the week were broadly seen as positive for emerging-market assets, but analysts expect the rand to continue to be under pressure ahead of reviews of SA’s sovereign credit rating. On Friday, the rand slipped 23c despite most global risk events this week having already happened. Locally, an S&P Global Ratings’ delegation was in SA on Friday, reportedly snubbing the ANC. Many analysts expect the agency to downgrade SA again during its next scheduled review on November 24. The all share closed 0.52% higher at 59‚638.20 points and the blue-chip top 4...
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