JOHANNESBURG, Oct 16 (Reuters) - The following scheduled equity and currency market moves may affect South African markets on Thursday. SOUTH AFRICAN MARKETS The South African rand held steady on Wednesday, as investors bought into riskier assets following dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell who left the door open to further U.S. interest rate cuts. GLOBAL MARKETS Stocks rose across most of Asia on Thursday, with the chip sector buoyant following a strong rally among U.S. peers overnight. WALL STREET The S&P 500 ended higher on Wednesday, with Morgan Stanley and Bank of America rallying after solid quarterly results, while investors remained focused on the recent increase in China-U.S. trade tensions. GOLD Gold prices hit a record high on Thursday, rising for a fifth session, as investors ramped up their safe-haven bets amid rising trade tensions between the world's two largest economies, a U.S. federal government shutdown and heightened rate-cut bets. EMERGING MARKETS For the top emerging markets news, double click on - - - - Some of the main stories out in the South African press: BUSINESS DAY - Export tax won't solve ferrochrome crisis, says Minerals Council - SA's deep capital markets not translating into growth, warn financial leaders NEWS24 - SA and China's historic stone fruit deal could give farmers a R800m boost (Compiled by Anathi Madubela; Editing by Toby Chopra) (The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)
