The JSE was firmer on Wednesday morning, while its global peers were mixed as investors awaited the outcome of the US Federal Reserve’s federal open market committee (FOMC) meeting later on Wednesday.
The latest consumer inflation data released on Tuesday, which showed that inflation continued to ease, supported the case that the Fed could pause a rate hike for June after the central bank hiked rates for 10 consecutive meetings.
According to CNBC, there is a 91% chance the central bank will keep rates at the current target rate of 5%-5.25%.
“It’s all eyes on the Fed today as markets anticipate a pause in rate hikes by the central bank,” Citadel Global director Bianca Botes said.
At 10.25am, the JSE all share had gained 0.38% to 78,122.45 points and top 40 was up 0.33%. Precious metals had added 1.45%, food producers 1.44%, resources 1.29%, financials 1.21%, banks 1.19% and industrial metals 0.97%.
At the same time in Europe, France’s CAC 40 was up 0.62% and Germany’s DAX 0.42%.
Earlier in Asia, the Shanghai Composite lost 0.14% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng 0.55%, while Japan’s Nikkei added 1.47%.
At 10.45am, the rand had strengthened 0.53% to R18.5083/$, 0.49% to R19.9919/€ and 0.29% to R23.3802/£. The euro was 0.11% firmer at $1.0799.
Gold gained 0.37% to $1,950.1/oz and platinum 0.38% to $980.2/oz. Brent crude was 1.43% firmer at $75.17 a barrel.
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