Johannesburg - Financials and retailers led the way on Wednesday, during a relatively muted trading session on the JSE.
The stronger rand buoyed banking stocks which saw Standard Bank [JSE:SBK], Nedbank [JSE:NED] and Barclays Africa [JSE:BGA] all trading firmer to close the day up 2.03%, 2.10% and 1.76% respectively. Retailers were also up as blue chip stocks Woolworths [JSE:WHL] and Shoprite [JSE:SHP] inched up 0.43% and 0.88%.
Other top movers included Liberty Two Degrees [JSE:L2D] which jumped 5.88%, and PPC Limited [JSE:PPC] which gained 5.15%.
Clover Industries [JSE:CLR] which has been under pressure of late ended the day up 3.63%, while EOH Holdings [JSE:EOH] which has been facing minor headwinds, also closed firmer gaining 2.45%.
The two Mondi listings came under pressure after the release of a trading statement which indicated the negative impact on operating profit of currency movements, particularly a weaker US dollar and Turkish lira. Mondi Ltd [JSE:MND] and Mondi PLC [JSE:MNP] eventually closed the day down 7.44% and 8.17%.
Miners also came under pressure despite firmer commodity prices. Pan African Resources [JSE:PAN], Harmony Gold [JSE:HAR] and Gold Fields [JSE:GFI] all ended the day among the biggest losers, as they lost 2.54%, 2.95% and 3.08% respectively.
Diversified miners BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL] and South32 [JSE:S32] were also under pressure. BHP Billiton closed the day down 1.68%, while South32 lost 1.86%.
The only exception to pressure on mining stocks was Anglo American PLC [JSE:AGL] which closed the day up 0.17%.
All-Share index futures, meanwhile, fell 3 points shy of its recent all-time high as it peaked at 51295 index points. The JSE Top-40 Index eventually closed up 0.15%, whilst the JSE All-Share Index was up by 0.24%.
The Industrials index was up by 0.79% while the Financials index gained 0.75%. The Resources index came under significant pressure to eventually close the day down 1.87%.
Currencies
The rand strengthened further in Wednesday's trading session on the back of a weaker US dollar. The dollar started losing ground on Tuesday evening after Catalonia’s president indicated that his country was not going to push for immediate independence. As a result, investors bought back into the Euro and the dollar weakened.
The rand strengthened to an intra-day high of R13.51 against the greenback, and at the close of the JSE it was trading at R13.57 to the dollar.
Compared to the levels that it traded on Tuesday, gold was weaker but it still in positive territory. Towards the close of the JSE it started to ease as it retraced to an intra-day low of $1286.78 per ounce.
When the JSE closed it was trading at $1288.21/Oz.
Palladium had another positive day, as it jumped up by more than $19/Oz. It peaked at $955.36/Oz before it was recorded at $954.64/Oz just after the JSE closed.
Platinum, meanwhile, was positive earlier on but subsequently lost some ground as it started to trade flat. It was recorded at $932.34/Oz just after the close of the local bourse.
Brent Crude was marginally weaker on Wednesday's session, and it was recorded at $56.53 per barrel at the close. Sasol managed to firm despite the muted crude oil prices, closing the day up 0.26% at R393.02 per share.
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