Brexit optimism could lift JSE on Thursday

Hopes that a draft Brexit deal may be reached soon could support the JSE on Thursday morning, amid reports of intense negotiations ahead of the October 31 deadline for the UK leaving the EU.

EU officials are expected to meet later on Thursday as speculation swirls that parties are nearing a deal, though this will still need to be approved by UK legislators.

The main sticking point is on the treatment of VAT in Northern Ireland, said AxiTrader senior market analyst Stephen Innes in a note. It appeared, however, that there was little clarity on when any announcement could be made.

Expectations that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates later in October have also risen, following weak US retail sales data on Wednesday.

At 6.15am Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.74% while Japan’s Nikkei had added 1.2%.

Gold was flat at $1,488.65/oz while platinum had slipped 0.12% to $884.90. Brent crude was 0.19% lower at $59 a barrel.

The rand was 0.17% firmer at R14.9182/$.

Diversified miner BHP’s share price, however, had slumped 2.5% on the Australian Securities Exchange.

Locally. focus is on load-shedding, the resumption of which could put further pressure on the rand, said Peregrine Treasury Solution corporate treasury manager Bianca Botes in a note.

ICT company Datatec is expected to release its interim results to end-August later in the day, having said earlier in October that it expects headline earnings per share to rise more than 100% from the prior comparative period.

Adcorp’s share price should react to its results for the six-months to end-August after markets closed on Wednesday. The employment services group reported it had swung into a net loss of R447m during the period, from profit of R99m previously.

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