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The JSE bucked the trend in other global markets as it surged to close firmer on Monday.
With Chinese markets closed for a holiday there was little sentiment that filtered through from Asian trading.
European stocks traded moderately firmer although there was disappointment stemming from German factory orders data which contracted by 0.6% month-on-month in September. In the US, sentiment was rather pessimistic on the back of concerns over the extent of the Federal Reserve's policy easing and the possibility of a deal at the next round of Sino-US trade talks.
Emerging market currencies struggled on the day, relinquishing some of the gains made towards the end of last week. The rand fell to a session low of R15.18/$ despite having traded as high as R15.02 just after the open. At 17:00 CAT, the rand was trading 0.7% weaker at R15.14/$.
Broad-based gains amongst the blue-chip counters saw the JSE extend its initial moderate gains on Monday. Rand hedge Bid Corporation [JSE:BID] climbed 3% to close at R343.50, British American Tobacco [JSE:BTI] gained 2.16% to close at R526.36, while Richemont [JSE:CFR] managed to add 1.34% to close at R105.69.
Diversified mining giant Anglo American PLC [JSE:AGL] advanced 1.9% to close at R341.07, while sector peer BHP Group [JSE:BHP] gained 1.22% to close at R313.85.
Clicks [JSE:CLS] caught most headlines on the day after it rallied 13.54% to close at R247.75, following the release of a full-year trading statement indicating it was expecting a significant increase in earnings.
Sasol [JSE:SOL] surged 6.19% to end the day at R267.82, while Assore [JSE:ASR] climbed 6.01% to end the day at R262.90. Other significant gainers on the day included Naspers [JSE:NPN] which added 0.79% to close a R2 272.67, and Prosus [JSE:PRX] which closed at R1 086.00 after gaining 0.71%.
Losses were relatively modest particularly for rand sensitives which retreated on the back of the softer rand. Retailer The Foschini Group [JSE:TFG] shed 0.59% as it closed at R164.53, while Massmart [JSE:MSM] lost 0.9% to close at R44.00.
Bidvest [JSE:BVT] retreated 0.83% to end the day at R191.40, while telecoms provider Telkom [JSE:TKG] lost 0.8% to end the day at R72.95. Banker Nedbank [JSE:NED] weakened by 0.58% as it closed at R223.69, while Standard Bank [JSE:SBK] shed 0.6% to close at R173.50.
The JSE All-Share index eventually closed 1.43% higher while the blue-chip JSE Top-40 index gained 1.51%. The Resources index led gains amongst the major indices as it closed 2.73% higher. The industrials and financials indices gained 1.29% and 0.22% respectively.
Brent crude rebounded in Monday's session as it was eventually recorded trading 2.12% firmer at $59.61/barrel just after the JSE close.
At 17:00 CAT, platinum was up 0.77% at $886.75/Oz, gold was 0.18% softer at $1 502.09/Oz, and palladium had shed 0.42% to trade at $1 661.25/Oz.
- Musa Makoni is a trading specialist at Purple Group.
