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Johannesburg - The JSE closed weaker on Thursday as profit-taking swamped the market following the strong close recorded on Wednesday.
Globally, benchmark Treasury yields for the USA and the United Kingdom continued to rise, and South African Treasury yields also followed the same trend.
This aided in putting pressure on local equities which traded mostly weaker on the day. The rand weakened against the greenback as the US dollar found renewed strength. The local unit was trading at R12.59/$ at 17:00.
Gains were relatively limited on the JSE, which saw Impala Platinum [JSE:IMP] and Greenbay Properties [JSE:GRP] close the day up 3.82% and 3.2% respectively, to end among the session’s biggest gainers.
Lonmin [JSE:LON] and South32 [JSE:S32] added 3.03% and 2.74% respectively, while Stadio Holdings [JSE:SDO] and Intu Properties [JSE:ITU] gained 3.92% and 2.91% respectively.
Oil and gas producer Sasol [JSE:SOL] gained 1.86% to close at R478.77 per share, to lead gains among the blue-chip counters.
Reinet [JSE:RNI] and Richemont [JSE:CFR] gained 1.33% and 1.44% respectively, while Investec Limited [JSE:INL] closed 1.45% firmer, as it was buoyed by the release of its full-year earnings results which were largely positive.
Rand sensitive stocks such as banks and retailers traded under pressure due to the weak local unit. Retailers Spar Group [JSE:SPP] and Shoprite [JSE:SHP] lost 4.28% and 1.78% respectively, while bankers Barclays Africa [JSE:BGA] and Standard Bank [JSE:SBK] shed 4.45% and 3.66% respectively.
Famous Brands [JSE:FBR] released a trading statement which highlighted that their UK based business, GBK Restaurants, recorded another operating loss for the full year ended February 28.
The share price was negatively impacted as it ended the day down 3.29%.
Liberty Holdings [JSE:LBH] lost 3.08% to close at R124.78 per share, while ArcelorMittal [JSE:ACL] lost 6.12%.
The JSE All-Share Index closed 0.75% weaker, while the JSE Top-40 Index lost 0.83%. The Industrial and Financial Indices came under pressure to lose 1% and 2.04% respectively; however, the Resources Index had another reprieve as it gained 0.88%.
Gold traded within a $10 range which saw it reach a session low of $1 285.24 per ounce before it rebounded to trade at $1 289.84/oz at 17:00.
Platinum and palladium traded softer on the day, at $889.56/oz and $986.55/oz at 17:00.
Brent crude traded firmer on the day as it reached a session high of $80.18 per barrel.
This was mainly as a result of supply concerns ignited by the draw in US crude oil stockpiles data released on Wednesday. The commodity was trading at $80.13/barrel just after the JSE close.
Volatility in bitcoin was muted in comparison to the trend that is normally recorded in the unit.
Bitcoin was trading at $8315.50 per coin at 17.00 CAT, while Ethereum was trading back above $700 per coin, at $704.90 per coin.
