The JSE closed firmer on Friday‚ albeit off its highs‚ as a strong opening on Wall Street and firmer European markets provided support to banks and financials.There are expectations that finance ministers at the Group of Seven finance leaders meeting in Japan will reaffirm a commitment to further possible stimulus measures and measured rate hikes in the US to boost global growth.Analysts said traders were looking past the lingering fears of a possible rise in interest rates in the US in June.April home sales in the US also pointed to a healthy US housing market‚ following on positive consumer inflationary data released earlier.Global equities seemed to be in a position to absorb further rate hikes. US nonfinancial companies held $1.68-trillion in cash at the end of 2015‚ up 1.8% from the end of 2014‚ with the top 50 holders of cash accounting for 66.7% of the total cash pile‚ according to a Moody’s report released on the day.For the first time‚ the top five cash holders were all technology companies. Apple‚ Microsoft‚ Google‚ Cisco and Oracle held 30%‚ or $504bn of the total nonfinancial corporate cash balance.The JSE all share closed 0.51% higher at 52‚638.30 points and the blue-chip top 40 added 0.47%. The all share had been up 1.15% at midday. Banks were the biggest gainers on the day‚ rebounding 2.62% from oversold levels‚ with financials closing 1.29% higher. The South African listed property index rose 1.27% and resources climbed 1.04%. The gold index shed 0.45%.The all share ended the week 2.01% higher and is 3.84% up for the year.The Dow Jones industrial average was 0.64% firmer at the JSE’s close. The UK’s FTSE 100 had gained 1.46%‚ the French CAC 40 had risen 1.41% and Germany’s Dax was 1.01% higher.Futuregrowth Asset Management portfolio manager Wikus Furstenberg said a mild‚ cyclical and uneven global economic recovery remained the base case for markets in future. A stronger US was set to lead the way.In contrast‚ eurozone growth remained challenging‚ while prospects for Japan looked particularly poor‚ he said.“Most emerging markets are caught between a mixed outlook for the developed world and concern about the implications of weaker Chinese growth on commodity demand‚” he said.Although recent data releases had quelled earlier excessive global deflationary fears‚ expectations of rapid inflation growth were also misplaced‚ he said.“The current trend of global monetary policy divergence was expected to continue over the next year or so‚” Furstenberg said.Among individual shares‚ global luxury goods company Richemont ended the day 5.29% lower at R92.88 after earlier reporting annual results.Full-year net profit was up 67% to €2.22bn. But this was partly due to a once-off gain of €639m from the merger of its Net-a-Porter online retailer with Yoox in October‚ as the group suffered foreign-exchange losses.Anglo American firmed 3.94% to R137.34.Among gold shares‚ AngloGold Ashanti was 0.31% higher at R223.98‚ Sibanye rose 1.57% to R48.54 while Harmony dropped 3.25% to R50.01.Investec plc was up 1.42% at R109.70. Currency volatility affected the group’s annual results‚ reported on Thursday‚ but it still reported that the specialist banking division grew operating profits 13.5% to £505.6m on a “currency neutral” basis.Nedbank gained 3.92% to R175.10.MTN was 2.71% up at R128.39. The telecommunications group announced on Thursday it would spend R12bn in SA this year to ramp up its network.Naspers was up 2.63% to R2‚111.91 on the weaker rand.Rand-hedge Sappi was 3.53% higher at R72.50. - TMG Digital/Business Day..