US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said the central bank would continue with its aggressive interest rate hikes in an effort to combat rising inflation.
In a speech on Friday, Powell acknowledge that the continued rate hikes would come at a cost and be painful for many to weather but argued it would be a mistake to allow price increases to become entrenched.
US markets traded lower immediately following Powell’s comments while European markets followed their cross-Atlantic counterparts into the red zone. The US dollar rallied on the back of the news with the rand trading at xxx versus the greenback.
On the local front, the JSE dipped 0.24% with All Share Index closing the week at 70,173 points.
The bourse announced it had fined former Steinhoff CFO Ben la Grange R2 million for “failing to fulfil his duties and responsibilities” with “due care and skill”.
Grindrod (2.04%) reported revenue increased 31% for the six months to the end of June. Headline earnings increased by 53% to R529 million from R345 million in the previous corresponding period.
Grindrod said its good earnings were “underpinned by strong mineral commodity markets and Grindrod Bank continued to perform well on the back of favourable net interest margins.”
