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Commodities shine on JSE

Johannesburg - Commodity shares were Thursday morning's star performers on the JSE due to higher commodity prices after the dollar softened somewhat following Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen's latest comments on interest rates.
 
Yellen confirmed on Wednesday after the Fed’s open market committee meeting that US interest rates will probably rise later this year, but the markets were more interested in her comments that the trajectory of interest rate increments was far more significant than the initial timing.
 
The market interpreted her comments as an indication that the upward curve in interest rates will probably be lower than previously forecast.
 
Yellen also did not give an indication of exactly when interest rates would be hiked, saying the rate decision is still up in the air and depends on further improvement in the US labour market. Inflation will also have to move back to 2%. "My colleagues and I would like to see more decisive evidence that a moderate pace of economic growth will be sustained,” she said.
 
Gold and platinum prices both gained more than 1% after the dollar retreated in response to Yellen’s comments, which pushed the Gold and Resources indices higher. By midday on Thursday gold gained 1.15% to $1 198.08 and the platinum price, which is currently trading at levels last seen in 2009, was 1.24% higher at $1 091.35.
 
At that stage the Resources index was 0.99% higher than the previous day and the Gold index gained 3.62%. These gains were however not enough to pull the rest of the market higher and the All-share index was 0.43% lower at 51 372 points, while the Top 40 index lost 0.49% to 45 687 points.
 
One would have thought the news on interest rates would also give the rest of the market a push, as it would lower the risk of a reversal in capital flows back to the developed world, but the Financial and Industrial indices were substantially lower after Wednesday’s strong gains.
 
Wednesday's run in selected big capitalisation shares was ascribed to some bargain hunters catching up on what is happening elsewhere in the world to these shares, but on Thursday morning the profit takers were back. The Financial index lost 0.96% and the Industrial index 0.66%.
 
British American Tobacco [JSE:BTI] which gained more than 4% on Wednesday was by Thursday midday 0.88% lower at R677.50, while SABMiller [JSE:SAB] lost 1.36% to R643.56 after gaining more than 3% on Wednesday. Richemont [JSE:CFR] took a beating on Thursday morning and lost 2.53% to R100.20.
 
Naspers [JSE:NPN] was virtually unchanged despite a trading statement that the company expects core headline earnings per share to be between 25% (2 726 cents) and 30% (2 835c) higher than the comparable period’s 2 181c. The share was only 0.02% higher at R1 815.16.
 
In the financial sector FirstRand [JSE:FSR] lost 1.43% to R50.29, but Standard Bank [JSE:SBK] traded marginally (0.13%) higher at R153.00.
 
In the resources sector BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL] was 0.65% higher at R256.75 and Anglo American [JSE:AGL] gained 1.01% to R191.35. Both shares have been trading in a narrow band over the past seven days, with BHP Billiton gaining 1.35% and Anglo losing 1.93%.
 
The two biggest iron ore producers both recovered on Thursday after Wednesday's losses. Assore [JSE:ASR] was 1.63% stronger at R109.55 while Kumba [JSE:KIO] gained 1.29% to R163.07. Both shares were highly volatile. Assore traded in a band between R105 and R115 and Kumba between R159.00 and R171.00.
 
Impala Platinum (Implats) [JSE:IMP], which reached the lowest level in 11 years on Wednesday due to a depressed platinum price, regained 1.29% on Thursday morning to trade at R59.76. Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) [JSE:AMS] was 0.89% higher at R292.57. Both shares have been sharply down over the past 12 months due to a weak platinum price. Implats lost 48.12% over that period and Amplats 41.06%.
 
AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG] was again the star in the gold sector gaining almost 5%, while Harmony [JSE:HAR] and Gold Fields [JSE:GFI] were both more than 3% stronger. AngloGold Ashanti was 4.86% higher at R113.95, Harmony gained 3.15% to R17.01 and Gold Fields 3.11% to R41.06.
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Rand - Dollar
18.87
+0.3%
Rand - Pound
23.84
+0.3%
Rand - Euro
20.38
+0.3%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.32
+0.2%
Rand - Yen
0.12
+0.2%
Platinum
908.05
0.0%
Palladium
1,014.94
0.0%
Gold
2,232.75
-0.0%
Silver
24.95
-0.1%
Brent Crude
87.00
+1.8%
Top 40
68,346
0.0%
All Share
74,536
0.0%
Resource 10
57,251
0.0%
Industrial 25
103,936
0.0%
Financial 15
16,502
0.0%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
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