The JSE began the week on a tentative and nervous note, with industrial stocks leading the downside and banks edging higher following the sector’s biggest weekly drop last week since August. The R13.95-trillion all-share index was off 0.38% at 50,953.90 points at lunchtime, with the top 40 losing 0.46%. The chief investment strategist at Absa Stockbrokers and Portfolio Management, Craig Pheiffer, expects markets to trade in a relatively narrow band pending the mid-term budget next week that he hopes will soothe ratings agencies’ concerns. "It’s an uphill struggle but I think the finance minister [Pravin Gordhan] has managed to pull the rabbits out of the hat before," Pheiffer said. The budget speech, which would be delivered against the backdrop of uncertainty over the future of Gordhan following fraud charges which had been brought against him, would be closely monitored if it stuck to fiscal discipline and implemented growth-enhancing initiatives, he said. Europe’s leading markets...
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