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Cape Town - The JSE powered to fresh highs on Friday, closing off a strong week of consecutive daily gains, as the market responded to a weaker rand.
At the close of trading, all the major indices were in the green, as the larger dual-listed shares benefited from the weaker rand which traded at R13.72 against the dollar.
The All-share index gained 0.41% and closed at 57 231.87 while the blue-chip Top40 gained 0.44% and closed at 51 010.38. Industrials gained 0.54% followed by Financials 0.29%, Resources 0.25% and Gold miners 0.07%.
Lonmin [JSE:LON] shot the lights out and climbed 16.90% to R15.15 following an announcement that the platinum miner expects higher full year sales than previously estimated. The share has fallen over 50% since January.
The platinum producer has also announced that it had fulfilled the last requirement to buy out its partners, Anglo American, in its Pandora project.
Nearly a year ago, Anglo American Platinum [JSE:AMS] had agreed to sell its 42.5% stake in Pandora for R400m cash and a share of profit for six years.
Brent Crude prices fell to $55.40/bbl as Russia clarified that President Vladimir Putin had not, as suggested, proposed extending the production cut agreement although he thought it was a possibility. Saudi Arabia’s energy minister also sounded lukewarm about an extension until the end of 2018, saying he was “flexible” about it.
Crude prices had risen dramatically of late following the spate of hurricanes affecting refineries and the incoming tropical storm Nate heading for the Gulf of Mexico ahead of a likely US landfall as a hurricane this coming weekend. Nearly 15% of oil production and 6.5% of natural gas output in the US Gulf had been shut as of late yesterday as operators evacuate offshore facilities in advance of the storm.
Non-farm payroll data out of the US surprised to the downside, with employment falling for the first time in seven years amid hurricane destruction. Hurricanes Harvey and Irma triggered a record drop in employment, especially affecting the hospitality and leisure sectors
Netflix soared to the top of the S&P 500 in, advancing 5.4% to a new all-time high after announcing an upcoming price bump for its U.S. streaming services. Analysts say Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) subscribers are not likely to cancel in droves as they have in response to some previous price increases because the service now offers more content and is cheaper than many new rivals.
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