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Johannesburg - The JSE managed to close firmer on Thursday despite a muted start and a relatively flat trading session.
There was a lot of volatility towards the close of trade, as news came out that US President Donald Trump was favouring Jerome Powell, a member of the US Fed Governors, to replace US Fed Chair Janet Yellen when her current term expires.
This led to a minor sell off in the US dollar which benefited the rand as it bounced from earlier lows.
The rand strengthened to R14.09/$ after having traded above R14.25/$ for the better part of Friday's session. The strengthening rand supported rand sensitive stocks such as Mr Price [JSE:MRP] and Barclays Africa [JSE:BGA] which closed the day up 2.42% and 1.96% respectively.
Rhodes Food Group [JSE:RFG] was one of the biggest gainers on the day, ending up 3.65%.
Pharmacists Dis-Chem [JSE:DCP] and Clicks [JSE:CLS], meanwhile, ended Friday up 3.33% and 4.12% respectively.
Balwin Properties [JSE:BWN] closed up 3.02% whilst Stadio Holdings [JSE:SDO] bounced to close the day up 4.27% at R6.10 per share.
Miners came under pressure on Friday. African Rainbow Minerals [JSE:ARI], Gold Fields [JSE:GFI] and Glencore [JSE:GLN] all traded weaker to close the day down 4.93%, 4.58% and 3.20% respectively.
Sasol [JSE:SOL] shed 2.21%, while Sappi [JSE:SAP] lost 1.60%.
All-Share
The JSE All-Share index rebounded to close the day 0.24% firmer, while the JSE Top40 index firmed by 0.25%. The Industrials index gained 0.80%, while the Financials index also ended up 0.80%.
The Resources index, however, traded under pressure to shed 1.70%.
The US, meanwhile, released annualised GDP quarter-on-quarter data, which beat analyst estimates.
GDP for the period was recorded at 3.0%, which was better forecasts of 2.6%. Immediate impact was felt in the US dollar as it strengthened after the release of the data.
However news about Donald Trump’s candidate preference for the position of US Fed chair resulted in the dollar sliding briefly.
Precious metals
Gold found some reprieve after the US dollar slid towards the close of the JSE. It had reached an intra-day low of $1 263.15 per ounce, but rebounded to trade at $1 270.64/Oz just after the JSE closed.
This did not feed into gains for JSE-listed Gold miners, with the bourse's Gold Mining index closed 2.19% weaker.
Brent Crude had another positive day, breaking $59 per barrel overnight and reaching an intra-day high of $60.13 per barrel.
Sentiment remains largely bullish for the commodity, with OPEC expected to agree to an extension of production cuts until the end of 2018.
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