The rand was holding onto most of Thursday’s 2% gain on Friday morning, trading at R12.32 to the dollar at 7am.The rand strengthened from Wednesday’s R12.72 to reach R12.27 to the dollar on Thursday evening, on the news that US inflation reached a 14-month high of 2.5% in April.This caused the dollar to weaken against most currencies as US inflation was lower than expected, reducing the chances of the Federal Reserve Bank raising interest rates.The rand was at R14.68 to the euro and R16.67 to the pound.Japanese stocks — which usually suffer when the dollar weakens — were buoyant ahead of the JSE’s opening. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index was up 1% and the broader Topix index was up 0.8%.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 1.36%, with Naspers’s 31%-owned Tencent gaining 1.53% to H$412.40. This points to another good day for Naspers after its share price rose 3.54% to close at R3,185.08 on Thursday.In Sydney, BHP was up 1.07% at A$33.10 and South32 was up 1.15% at A$3.94. But on the JSE, BH...
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