The JSE reached an intraday high on Thursday, playing catch-up with world equity markets, which have been firing on all cylinders since the start of 2018. At 12.06pm the all share was up 0.30% to 61,104.80 points, as the top 40 advanced 0.22%. Retailers and financial stocks were standout performers, with markets seemingly betting that the Reserve Bank could resume its interest-rate cutting cycle as early as Thursday afternoon, when its monetary policy committee concludes its latest meeting. But economists generally see limited scope for the committee to loosen policy now, given the uncertainty around the budget, which Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba is due to table on February 21. Moody’s Investors Service, which is the only major ratings agency that still has SA’s credit rating at investment grade, is set to announce the result of its latest ratings review shortly thereafter. The recent ANC national elective conference, in which Cyril Ramaphosa emerged as the party’s new leader, has...
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