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Johannesburg - The JSE reached an all-time high on Thursday, as the weaker rand lifted rand hedges and resource stocks.
The local bourse got off to a flying start as the All-Share index futures reached a new all-time high of 53 140 points.
Mining stocks were buoyed as a result of the weaker rand, with platinum miners in particular benefiting. Impala Platinum [JSE:IMP] was the biggest mover of the day gaining 13.12% to close at R37.00 per share.
Lonmin [JSE:LON], Royal Bafokeng Platinum [JSE:RBP] and Northam Platinum [JSE:NHM] all recorded decent gains, to close the day up 7.95%, 7.30% and 5.21% respectively.
Index heavyweights Naspers [JSE:NPN] and Richemont [JSE:CFR] gained 1.32% and 1.79%, while diversified miner BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL]jumped 2.68%.
British American Tobacco [JSE:BTI] also recorded another day of gains to close 2.21% firmer.
While miners benefited, some retail and financial stocks came under pressure due to the weaker rand. Mr Price [JSE:MRP] and Standard Bank [JSE:SBK] were among the biggest losers, closing Thursday down 2.79% and 3.14% respectively.
Stadio Holdings [JSE:SDO] traded under pressure to close the day down 4.41%, while cement maker PPC Limited [JSE:PPC] lost 2.06%.
The JSE All-Share index gave up some of its earlier gains to close the day up 0.78%, while the blue chip Top-40 index gained 0.80%.
Resources were up 2.91% and the Industrials index climbed 0.77%. The Financials index, on the other hand, felt the impact of the weaker rand to close the day down 1.52%.
A weakening rand
The rand weakened further Thursday, to reach an intra-day low of R14.29 against the US dollar. This was on the back of the Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba's medium-term budget speech on Wednesday, as well as a stronger dollar.
The rand did, however, strengthen slightly to trade at R14.19 to the dollar when the JSE closed.
StatsSA on Thursday released Producer Price Index (PPI) data which showed an increase in both its main indicators. Year-on-year PPI data figures increased to 5.2% from a prior recording of 4.2%, while month-on-month numbers increased to 0.7% from a previous recording of 0.4%.
Gold traded flat earlier on Thursday, but subsequently lost ground towards the JSE's close as the dollar strengthened. The precious metal traded at $1 273.01 per ounce just after the JSE closed.
Platinum peaked at to an intra-day high $928.14 per ounce before retreating to trade at $920.45/Oz just after the local market's close. Palladium, meanwhile, had another day of gains, peaking at $972.67/Oz.
It was recorded at $969.05 when the local bourse closed.
Brent Crude remained above $58 per barrel to record moderate gains from Wednesday. Brent Crude was trading $58.59 per barrel just after the JSE closed.
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