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Johannesburg - The JSE reversed course in late trade on Friday to eke out a small overall gain as buyers looked to pick up stocks at more affordable levels.
The rand dropped to a fresh four-year low of R10.28 against the dollar on Friday morning‚ underpinning rand hedge dual-listed counters‚ which buoyed the bourse.
Emerging market currencies‚ such as the rand‚ sold off on a stronger dollar environment and concern over local labour unrest. The rand regained lost ground later in the day‚ trading at R10.07/$ at 17:05.
At 17:00‚ the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index closed 0.18% firmer at 42 016.45 points and the Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] blue chip index 0.26% higher.
Platinum and gold indices continued their upward surge‚ gaining 3.10% and 1.69% respectively after recent losses. Resources added 0.46%‚ while general retailers shed 3.52% after recent good gains.
“It was very much a story of rand hedge stocks today‚ with resource counters performing very well and benefiting from the rand hedge component of their business‚” said Mohammed Nalla‚ head of strategic research at Nedbank Capital.
“We saw a broad sell-off in industrial and financial counters today‚ mainly because they have had a good run this week. We also saw property counters selling off aggressively because they track the bonds and bonds saw a huge sell-off this week‚” he said.
“Retailers have been holding up quite well recently and today we saw some profit-taking in this sector and some month-end portfolio realignment going into the weekend‚” Nalla said.
“Banking counters also sold off quite a bit on a lower rand and negative local economic sentiment‚” he said.
European stock markets were weaker in late trade‚ with London’s FTSE 100 down 0.55% at 4.48pm local time and the Dow Jones Industrial index flat (0.01%) at the same time‚ due to weak economic data from Europe‚ but benchmarks remained on track for monthly gains‚ Dow Jones Newswires reported.
Among individual shares on the JSE‚ ArcelorMittal (ACL) surged 5.45% to R29 and Exxaro (EXX) climed 3.95% to R158.58.
AngloGold Ashanti (ANG) added 3.14% to R182.05‚ while Gold Fields (GFI) bucked the trend‚ giving back 1.22% to close at R61.44. Sibanye (SGL) extended recent gains‚ advancing 3.97% to R8.39.
Lonmin (LON) was the biggest gainer among platinum miners‚ jumping 5.09% to R46‚ followed by Anglo American Platinum (AMS)‚ which was up 2.81% to R329.
Capitec (CPI) dipped 1.02% to close at R184.99 and insurers Santam (SNT) shed 3.05% to R179.35 and Old Mutual Plc (OML) down 2.11% at R31.14 due to negative sentiment in this sector.
Mr Price (MPC) was the biggest loser in the general retail index‚ slumping 4.92% to R128.12‚ followed by Truworths (TRU)‚ which gave back 4.77% to R87.
The rand dropped to a fresh four-year low of R10.28 against the dollar on Friday morning‚ underpinning rand hedge dual-listed counters‚ which buoyed the bourse.
Emerging market currencies‚ such as the rand‚ sold off on a stronger dollar environment and concern over local labour unrest. The rand regained lost ground later in the day‚ trading at R10.07/$ at 17:05.
At 17:00‚ the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index closed 0.18% firmer at 42 016.45 points and the Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] blue chip index 0.26% higher.
Platinum and gold indices continued their upward surge‚ gaining 3.10% and 1.69% respectively after recent losses. Resources added 0.46%‚ while general retailers shed 3.52% after recent good gains.
“It was very much a story of rand hedge stocks today‚ with resource counters performing very well and benefiting from the rand hedge component of their business‚” said Mohammed Nalla‚ head of strategic research at Nedbank Capital.
“We saw a broad sell-off in industrial and financial counters today‚ mainly because they have had a good run this week. We also saw property counters selling off aggressively because they track the bonds and bonds saw a huge sell-off this week‚” he said.
“Retailers have been holding up quite well recently and today we saw some profit-taking in this sector and some month-end portfolio realignment going into the weekend‚” Nalla said.
“Banking counters also sold off quite a bit on a lower rand and negative local economic sentiment‚” he said.
European stock markets were weaker in late trade‚ with London’s FTSE 100 down 0.55% at 4.48pm local time and the Dow Jones Industrial index flat (0.01%) at the same time‚ due to weak economic data from Europe‚ but benchmarks remained on track for monthly gains‚ Dow Jones Newswires reported.
Among individual shares on the JSE‚ ArcelorMittal (ACL) surged 5.45% to R29 and Exxaro (EXX) climed 3.95% to R158.58.
AngloGold Ashanti (ANG) added 3.14% to R182.05‚ while Gold Fields (GFI) bucked the trend‚ giving back 1.22% to close at R61.44. Sibanye (SGL) extended recent gains‚ advancing 3.97% to R8.39.
Lonmin (LON) was the biggest gainer among platinum miners‚ jumping 5.09% to R46‚ followed by Anglo American Platinum (AMS)‚ which was up 2.81% to R329.
Capitec (CPI) dipped 1.02% to close at R184.99 and insurers Santam (SNT) shed 3.05% to R179.35 and Old Mutual Plc (OML) down 2.11% at R31.14 due to negative sentiment in this sector.
Mr Price (MPC) was the biggest loser in the general retail index‚ slumping 4.92% to R128.12‚ followed by Truworths (TRU)‚ which gave back 4.77% to R87.
