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Cape Town - The JSE closed weaker on Tuesday as most of the blue chip stocks on the local bourse traded under pressure.
Lonmin [JSE:LON] jumped 5.18% in anticipation of the earnings results that were expected today. The stock closed at R11.16 per share.
The current talk of the market, Steinhoff [JSE:SNH], gained 25.78% to close at R11.76 per share. Other notable moves higher were from Rhodes Food Group [JSE:RFG] which gained 14.78%, whilst Grindrod [JSE:GND] firmed by 3.37%.
Dis-Chem [JSE:DCP] was one of the biggest losers of the day as it lost 11.74% to close at R35.05 per share. This was on the back of a successful book build which saw Dis-Chem raise R1.12bn from the issue of 32 million ordinary shares at R35 per share.
Consolidated Infrastructure [JSE:CIL] and Stadio Holdings [JSE:SDO] lost 7.55% and 6.58% respectively, whilst miners such as Sibanye Gold [JSE:SGL] and ArcelorMittal [JSE:ACL] shed 5.00% and 4.93% respectively.
Banking stocks were softer despite a relatively stronger rand, stocks such as Standard Bank [JSE:SBK] and First Rand [JSE:FSR] shed 2.26% and 1.05% respectively. Index heavyweight Naspers [JSE:NPN] lost 3.42%, whilst EOH Holdings [JSE:EOH] lost 4.98%.
The JSE All-Share index eventually closed 0.82% lower, whilst the blue chip Top-40 index shed 0.77%. The Resources index was the only major index to close in the green as it gained 0.12%. The Industrials index lost 1.21% whilst the Financials index lost 0.51%.
The US dollar gained against major currency pairs as indicated by the US Dollar index which broke out above 94 index points to peak at 94.113 points. As a result the rand reversed earlier gains to trade at R13.64 against the greenback at 17:00. This was after the rand had managed to reach an intra-day high of R13.57/$.
Gold came under pressure due to the stronger US dollar to reach an intra-day low of $1 246.27/Oz. The precious metal was trading at $1 241.33/Oz just after the JSE closed. Gold miners AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG] and Gold Fields [JSE:GFI] shed 1.61% and 2.44% respectively.
Platinum continued to trade under pressure as it was trading below $900/Oz to reach an intra-day low of $877.40/Oz. The metal was trading slightly above its day’s low,at $877.91/Oz just after the JSE closed. Palladium followed a similar trend lower to trade at $1 006.32/Oz just after the JSE closed.
Brent Crude showed strong bullish signs earlier on to reach an intra-day high of $65.83 per barrel but it subsequently lost some ground to trade at $64.76 per barrel just after the JSE close.
Sasol [JSE:SOL] managed to firm marginally to close at R421.11 per share, up 0.61% for the day.
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