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Cape Town - The JSE closed firmer on Thursday, following the largely bullish trend of major global indices after two days of losses.
Spar Group [JSE:SPP] ended the day amongst the top movers on the JSE, gaining 5.57% to close at R178.63 per share.
The Foschini Group [JSE:TFG] jumped 3.93% to close at R139.00, while Sappi [JSE:SAP] firmed on the back of positive fourth quarter results to close up 4.0%.
The majority of the JSE's blue chip constituents traded in the green. As a result stocks such as NEPI Rockcastle, Discovery [JSE:DSY] and Vodacom [JSE:VOD] closed up 1.80%, 2.42% and 1.17% respectively.
Steinhoff, which has been under pressure lately, found some relief as it close up 2.65%.
Retailers Mr Price [JSE:MRP] and Shoprite [JSE:SHP] benefitted from the relatively firmer rand as they inched up 1.48% and 2.66% respectively.
Banking stocks Nedbank [JSE:NED] and First Rand [JSE:FSR], meanwhile, recorded small gains of 0.70% and 0.67%. On the losers side, Brait [JSE:BAT] dropped another 5.05% while Stadio Holdings lost 3.79%.
Sibanye Stillwater traded under significant pressure to close the day down 4.70% despite metal commodity prices trading flat.
Woolworths [JSE:WHL] traded weaker on the back of a trading update released in the morning. The major eyesore in the update was a decline in David Jones sales. As a result the stock closed the day down 2.41% at R53.75 per share.
All-Share
The JSE All-Share index closed the day up 0.62% while the blue chip Top-40 index firmed by 0.71%. The Resources index was slightly softer as it lost 0.06%. Industrials and the Financials gained 0.99% and 0.53% respectively.
The rand, meanwhile, gained against the US dollar to reach an intra-day high of R14.21/$. This move was largely due to overnight dollar weakness, which resulted in emerging currencies gaining against the greenback. At 5pm the rand was trading at R14.23/$.
Gold was mostly flat Thursday, failed to gain any significant direction. Gold miners on the JSE traded under pressure which saw AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG] and Harmony Gold [JSE:HAR] losing 1.60% and 2.56% respectively. Gold was trading at $1 280.06 per ounce just after the JSE closed.
Palladium and platinum were also flat, which resulted in mixed fortunes for other JSE-listed miners. Impala Platinum [JSE:IMP] closed up 1.37% while Anglo American Platinum [JSE:AMS] lost 1.71%. Platinum was trading at $9 30.38/Oz just after the JSE closed whilst palladium was recorded at $984.40/Oz.
Brent Crude had another relatively subdued day of trading but it still remained under pressure. The commodity was trading at $61.50 per barrel when the local bourse finished trading.
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