The US Senate adjourned on Thursday night without voting on President Donald Trump’s controversial tax bill. The Dow Jones industrial average was sent 1.4% higher to clock 24,000 points for the first time earlier on Thursday, after Republican senator John McCain said he would support Trump’s plan to reduce corporate taxes. Trump’s tax proposals are unanimously opposed by Democratic Party senators, who argue they favour the rich at the expense of the poor. The bill will fail if at least three Republican senators side with the Democrats. The US rally on hopes of lower corporate taxes was damped in Asian markets by the legislative process dragging on. Tokyo’s Topix index rose 0.3% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.13%.SA also had its share of political drama on Thursday, with the DA mayors of Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela Bay securing enough votes, thanks to their alliance with the EFF, to survive efforts by the ANC and its allied parties to oust them.The rand was at R13.73/$,...
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