The US dollar has been on the front foot today and climbed to a three-week high against the rand as traders digested the latest US Federal Reserve minutes, which indicated the central bank will keep interest rates higher for the foreseeable future to bring down inflation.
The local unit is currently trading at R16.79 to the dollar having previously traded at R16.24/$ earlier in the week.
On the JSE, the local bourse traded higher by the smallest of margins, adding just 0.06% with the All Share Index at 71,011 points.
In company news, Grindrod (8.12%) said it expected headline earnings of between R389 million and R419 million for the six months to the end of June.
The company is in the process of selling Grindrod Bank to African Bank for R1.5 billion but reported healthy growth in its earnings from the prior period, which was underpinned by a higher interest rate environment. Grindrod Bank’s liquidity surplus at the end of June 2022 was R6 billion
Grindrod will release its interim results next week.
Private schooling group Curro Holdings (-0.09%) said headline earnings per share jumped by 41.8% to 27.5 cents during the first six months of the year. The independent education provider said learner numbers continue to grow and increased by 6.6% during the interim period.
Revenue increased by 15.5%, which was helped by a 13.3% increase in tuition fees compared to the same period the year before.
