JSE unmoved on Friday morning with likely Moody’s downgrade priced in
Banks have improved as the rand is staging a marginal recovery, while Naspers is supporting the overall market with a 1% gain
The JSE opened flat on Friday as a marginal recovery in the rand supported banks and retailers, and Naspers gained 1%. Platinum stocks recovered on a higher metal price, which added 0.22% to $793.35 an ounce. The rand was at R15.245 to the dollar from R15.3343 as the euro rebounded to $1.1640 after falling below $1.16 last week. Indications that ratings agency Moody’s might downgrade SA after halving its 2018 growth forecast, appear to have been priced in at the rand’s current levels. The local currency has lost R4 to the dollar from the high point of Ramaphoria at the end of February, when the rand touched R11.50. The all share is down 4% in 2018. The Dow closed flat on Thursday, and Asian markets trended lower to flat on Friday in anticipation of new tariffs on another $200bn of Chinese imports by Donald Trump’s administration. "Investors can expect China to closely watch the impact from any new tariffs and adopt strong counter measures," Oanda analysts said. Oanda said it was not...
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