Rand, stocks remain largely flat
At 5pm, the rand bid at R14.0788 to the dollar, 1cent firmer than at the same time on Tuesday, little changed from its closing price of R14.0875 on Tuesday.
“The trade optimism following the G20 summit resolution between the US and China to resume trade talks is fading, as investors remain wary about a trade deal being concluded,” RMB analyst Mpho Tsebe wrote in a note.
The US and China agreed on Saturday to restart trade talks after President Donald Trump offered concessions including no new tariffs and an easing of restrictions on tech company Huawei in order to reduce tensions with Beijing.
But investors have grown more skeptical about the possibility of a speedy resolution to the trade war, especially given Trump’s comments that any deal would have to be tilted in favour of the US.
In fixed income, the yield on the benchmark 10-year government issue was at 8.11percent.
On the bourse, the JSE Top40 index lost 0.25percent to 51960.56 points while the all share index fell 0.14percent to 58012.18 points.
Financials were mostly negatively affected with FirstRand down 1.76percent at R65.97 and Discovery dipping 1.63 percent to R148.25. I
Reuters
Source: iol.co.za
