RAND LOWER, JSE HIGHER

THE RAND weakened in late afternoon trade yesterday as investors awaited tomorrow’s budget, when the finance minister is expected to unveil plans to shore up state-owned power utility Eskom.

At 5pm, the rand bid at R14.1198 to the dollar, 3 cents softer than at the Friday close.

Since the resumption of nationwide rolling power cuts by Eskom on February 10, the rand has lost nearly 4 percent, breaching the psychological 14 mark to the greenback as the crisis at the cashstrapped utility put a possible credit downgrade to junk back on the radar.

Although Eskom paused the blackouts on Friday for the first time in five days, it warned its creaking infrastructure could buckle at any time.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni is expected to unveil a rescue package for Eskom in the annual budget tomorrow.

Government bonds firmed, with the yield on the benchmark paper due in 2026 down 2.5 basis points to close at 8.855 percent.

Stocks rallied, with the JSE all share index and Top40 index touching threeand-a-half and four-and-half month highs respectively, with investors growing hopeful the US and China will agree a deal to end their trade war.

The all share index ended the session up 1.16 percent at 55 259.98 points, while the Top40 index climbed 1.18 percent to 49 019.56 points. I Reuters