The JSE was firmer on Wednesday morning, while the rand staged a recovery as investors digested the US Federal Reserve’s minutes from its recent policy meeting.
The Fed indicated that it expected to implement interest-rate cuts in the future, but at a gradual pace. According to the minutes, that decision would be contingent on inflation continuing to decrease sustainably to 2% and the US economy remaining near maximum employment.
Meanwhile, investors seemed to shrug off president-elect Donald Trump’s threat to impose new tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China. Trump proposed a 25% tariff on products from Mexico and Canada, and an additional 10% levy on Chinese goods.
“The minutes show that Fed officials support a careful approach to further rate cuts as the US economy remains resilient,” said RMB head of forex execution Matete Thulare. “It will now be a wait-and-see approach as the Fed has its last meeting of the year next month, as to their trajectory on interest rates.”
At 10.23am, the JSE all share had gained 0.25% to 85,609.25 points, with major indices mixed, while the top 40 added 0.36%.
At the same time in Europe, the FTSE 100 was up 0.12%, while France’s CAC 40 was down 0.65% and Germany’s DAX 0.05%.
Earlier in Asia, the Shanghai Composite gained 1.53% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng 2.38%, while Japan’s Nikkei lost 0.8%.
The rand remained weaker than the key psychological level of R18/$ amid dollar resilience. Thulare said that with only US data out today and tomorrow being a holiday in the US, current ranges should persist, with R17.95 to R18.25 trades expected for now.
At 10.23am, the rand had firmed 0.57% to R18.0821/$, 0.14% to R19.0431/€ and 0.26% to R22.7989/£. The euro was 0.43% firmer at $1.0531.
In the commodities markets, gold gained 0.53% to $2,646.65/oz and platinum 0.8% to $934.42/oz. Brent crude was 0.28% firmer at $72.60 a barrel.
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