MARKETS WRAP

THE RAND firmed to a two-week high on Friday as the dollar slipped after US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell set the stage for further interest rate cuts.

At 5pm on Friday, the rand bid at R15.1012 to the dollar, 12 cents firmer than at the same time on Thursday, after hitting a two-week peak of R15.0750 earlier in the immediate aftermath of Powell’s speech.

In his speech, Powell said the US economy is in a “favourable place” and the Fed will “act as appropriate” to keep the economic expansion on track.

Headline consumer price inflation slowed to 4 percent year-on-year in July, data from Stats SA showed last Wednesday, the lowest since January and below a consensus forecast of 4.2 percent.

In fixed income, the yield on the benchmark bond due in 2026 added 0.5 basis points to 8.275 percent.

In equities, the JSE’s broader all share index fell 0.35 percent to 53 995.82 points, while the benchmark Top40 index declined 0.39 percent to 48 247.95 points.

Retailers were among the biggest decliners, with shedding 7.81 percent to R40.26, while fell 3.61 percent to R116.29. “The whole retail index was not looking all that healthy,” said Bright Khumalo, portfolio manager at Vestact. I Reuters

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