The JSE was firmer on Wednesday morning, with global markets mixed as investors awaited US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s testimony later in the day.
Powell is expected to give testimony on monetary policy before Congress’s joint economic committee this afternoon, while he will also appear before the Senate on Thursday. Investors will look for any clues on the future direction of interest rates.
On the data front this week, investors will look out for the US ADP Employment Survey and January job openings, due to be released on Wednesday, as well as the key monthly nonpayroll data due on Friday. The data will provide further insight into the labour market and the strength of the world’s biggest economy.
“Markets await fresh clues as to when the Fed will start cutting interest rates in the US,” said TreasuryOne currency strategist Andre Cilliers. “Traders will be following Fed chair Jerome Powell’s testimony while looking ahead to the upcoming jobs data.”
At 10.30am, the JSE all share had gained 0.48% to 72,586.69 points and the top 40 was up 0.52%. Food producers had gained 1.47%, industrials 0.98%, retailers 0.67%, banks 0.47%, industrial metals 0.43% and financials 0.48%.
At the same time in Europe, France's CAC 40 was up 0.11%, while Germany's DAX was little changed.
Earlier in Asia, the Shanghai Composite lost 0.26% and Japan’s Nikkei 0.02%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.67%.
At 10.37am, the rand had strengthened 0.43% to R18.8882/$, 0.28% to R20.5251/€ and 0.29% to R24.0231/£. The euro was 0.1% firmer at $1.0866.
Gold was little changed at $2,125.57/oz, while platinum gained 0.64% to $884.1/oz. Brent crude was 0.83% firmer at $82.53 a barrel.
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