The JSE could be in for a strong ending to the week as activity dies down ahead of the festive period. US negotiators are reported to have backed down on the implementation of new trade tariffs on China that were due to come into force from Sunday. And the US has also offered to cut existing tariffs on a range of goods by 50 percent. The on-again, off-again trade negotiations between the world's two largest economies have dragged on for close to a year and a half, weighing on global growth and investor sentiment.

While the breakthrough came through too late to provide much impetus to the local equity market yesterday, Wall Street hit a record high and the rand also improved.

On the JSE, MTN closed marginally higher after its top brass hosted a conference call with investors and analysts to respond to the Competition Commission's Data Services Market Inquiry report. And if it comes to the crunch, the network operator says it will defend its pricing if it's called before the Competition Tribunal. Mediclinic also gained after it said it was likely to report positive full-year revenue growth ahead of a site visit to some of its Southern African hospitals. And Investec Property Fund rose after making another acquisition to bolster its Pan-European Logistics property portfolio.

More on all those in your final newsletter for the week, along with an update on Kibo Energy's plans to roll out reserve energy power plants in the UK - something we could sorely do with in SA at the moment.

Also, all the latest from DealMakers.

I hope you have a great weekend.

Stephen Gunnion

Managing Editor, InceConnect