Despite spending most of the day in positive territory the JSE closed weaker on Friday, tracking softer global markets, with the all share ending the week only 140 points above where it closed last week. The local currency reached a 12-month low to the dollar, and a 14-month low to sterling, on Friday afternoon, lifting miners and some rand hedges. Gains by the latter, however, were offset by disappointing interim results from Richemont. Rand weakness followed a host of local and global political issues that weighed on sentiment, including reports that President Jacob Zuma may announce a plan for free higher education. Concerns over the prospects of US tax cuts also weighed on global markets on Friday, with the Dow threatening to snap an eight-week winning streak, its longest in nearly four years, reported Dow Jones Newswires. The local market was also processing comments made by Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago in New York on Thursday night, in which he stressed the difficult...
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