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JSE sheds value on weaker rand

 Johannesburg - The JSE was dragged down on Wednesday by a struggling rand as ongoing mining strikes‚ weaker than expected retail sales numbers and negative local current account issues weighed.

Gold counters provided some upside as they benefited from the weaker rand. Gold is seen as a safe haven investment.

General retailers were the main laggards due to poor retail sales data - the increase of 1.9% year-on-year in January‚ was well off the 3.7% expected by leading economists in the I-Net Bridge Econometer. Banks were also pulled down by the weaker rand.

At 17:00‚ the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index closed 0.19% lower at 40 876.10 points. The bullion index closed 0.52% firmer‚ while general retailers dropped 2.13% and banks gave back 1.91%.

European bourses were trading softer by the local close‚ with the London’s FTSE 100 seen trading 0.69% lower and the Dow Jones Industrial index flat at (-0.19%) weaker.

“The biggest theme of the day was the weaker rand originating from our local negative current account deficit issues and ongoing strike woes‚” said Francois Venter‚ a trader at Investec Asset Management in Cape Town.

“Gold shares traded higher due to being a safe-haven investment‚ with the platinum and gold price seen pretty stable today‚” he added.

Rand-hedge stocks benefited from the weaker rand with Richemont up more than 2% and SABMiller lifting more than 1%.

On the JSE‚ Anglo American (AGL) dipped 0.28% to close at R256.00. The conglomerate confirmed on Wednesday that workers have returned and production has resumed at Anglo American Thermal Coal’s Kleinkopie colliery in Witbank‚ Mpumalanga‚ where workers staged a flash protest on Tuesday morning.

Kumba Iron Ore (KIO) shed 3.84% to close at R537.05.

Rand-hedgers Compagnie Richemont (CFR) lifted 2.09% to R76.83 and SABMiller closed 1.48% firmer at R481.00.

Gold counters Goldfields (GFI) added 0.99% to close at R74.18 and Sibanye (SGL) surged 3.07% to R14.43.

Retailers Woolies (WHL) shed 2.10% to R69.95‚ the Foschini Group (TFG) lost 5% to R105.45‚ while Mr Price (MPC) gave back 2.83% to close at R116.80. Cashbuild (CSB) plummeted 4.70% to R123.80.

Banking counter Standard Bank (SBK) was down 2.62% at R114.52 and Nedbank (NED) gave back 2.15% to close at R194.33.

Times Media Group (TMG) closed 0.64% firmer at R14.15 after reporting diluted headline earnings per share of 28c in the six months to December‚ unchanged from the same period a year earlier.

Automotive instruments manufacturer Control Instruments (CNL) closed 1.69% firmer at R1.20 after it doubled its diluted headline earnings per share from continuing operations to 16.2c in the year to December 2012‚ from 8.2c in the corresponding period a year earlier.

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Rand - Dollar
18.90
+0.2%
Rand - Pound
23.86
+0.2%
Rand - Euro
20.39
+0.2%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.31
+0.2%
Rand - Yen
0.12
+0.2%
Platinum
908.05
0.0%
Palladium
1,014.94
0.0%
Gold
2,232.75
-0.0%
Silver
24.95
-0.1%
Brent Crude
87.00
+1.8%
Top 40
68,346
0.0%
All Share
74,536
0.0%
Resource 10
57,251
0.0%
Industrial 25
103,936
0.0%
Financial 15
16,502
0.0%
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