UPDATE 1-S.Africa's Financial Services Board probes trades around Gordhan recall
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JOHANNESBURG May 2 South Africa's Financial Services Board (FSB) is probing certain trades made in the hours before former Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan was recalled from an investor roadshow and then dismissed, an official said on Tuesday.
The Johannesburg bourse said in April it was probing the trades involving currency futures and would forward its findings to the FSB once they were finalised.
On March 27, news broke that President Jacob Zuma had ordered Gordhan to return immediately from a trip to Britain and the United States, roiling local markets. Gordhan was later dismissed in a cabinet reshuffle.
"The investigation is on-going," Solly Keetse, head of Market Abuse at the FSB, told Reuters, adding that the FSB would make its findings known in due course.
The rand weakened about 2.5 percent ahead of the news, according to Thomson Reuters data, falling further after the recall was confirmed, while the Banks index on the bourse fell 4.73 percent. (Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Ed Stoddard and Tom Heneghan)