Johannesburg — The JSE all share closed at a fresh all-time high on Friday after weak trade figures pushed the rand lower with rand hedge stocks gaining as a result. Gold miners and industrials also providing a boost‚ while platinum was the biggest loser on the day.
World markets were also trading in positive territory‚ but uncertainty persisted about the US fiscal cliff and next week’s Greek debt buyback.
At 17:00‚ the All Share [JSE:J203] index was up 0.52% to 38 104.61 points‚ with the Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] index adding 0.62% to 33 872.69.
At the same time the FTSE 100 index was 0.35% higher at 5 890 points.
“We had a bit of a turnaround late this afternoon after the October trade deficit figure of R21.2bn was released. This put pressure on the rand and big rand hedge stocks like Richemont‚ SABMiller and British American Tobacco gained as a result. These counters are some of the largest companies on the JSE and have a bit impact on the bourse‚” said Hennie Fourie‚ stockbroker at PSG Konsult in Pretoria.
Among individual stocks on the JSE‚ BHP Billiton added 1.43% to close at R280.96‚ while Sasol shed 1.35% to R374.65.
AngloGold Ashanti added 1.12% to R278.08 and Gold Fields added 1.48% to R110.21.
Rand hedges Compagnie Richemont surged 3.41% to R68.77‚ another record close for the counter‚ British American Tobacco added 0.95% to R465.66 and SABMiller added 0.31% to R401.22.
In the banking sector‚ Capitec gave up 2.81% to R190‚ FirstRand was off 1.96% to R29.05‚ while Absa climbed 2.12% to R141.78.
Aveng performed best in construction with a jump of 3.54% to R26.91.