Gold rally may help JSE buck global gloom

The rand appeared cheered by the UK parliament passing an amendment on Tuesday night to rule out a no-deal or hard Brexit, strengthening from $13.72/$ before the vote to trade at R13.59/$ on Wednesday morning.

The rand was at R15.56/€ and R17.80/£ at 7am.

Wednesday’s focus will be on a delegation of Chinese trade negotiators who will meet their US counterparts in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House, making it likely President Donald Trump will make a personal appearance.

Miners may help the JSE escape a global stock market slump for a second day on Wednesday.

Whereas disappointing results from US tech companies sent the Nasdaq index down 0.81% on Tuesday, the all share index rose 1.15%.

Gold, which managed to breach the $1,300/oz level on Friday, continued its rally to trade at $1,314/oz on Wednesday morning.

Although palladium has not managed to hold on to the more than $1,400/oz level it reached on January 17, it has managed to hold its lead over gold, trading at $1,345/oz.