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The JSE edged higher on Thursday as most blue-chips rebounded following the slump which was recorded on Wednesday.
The local bourse seemed to take a leaf from stocks in Europe which tracked mostly higher on the day. Trading in Asia was mixed as Nikkei and Hang Seng advanced while the Shanghai Composite Index retreated. In the USA stocks opened softer following worse than expected jobless data while the final reading of GDP QoQ came in line with expectations at 2.0%.
In terms of local economic data, Statistics SA released South Africa’s producer inflation numbers for the month of August. PPI YoY slowed down to 4.5% from a prior recording of 4.9%, while PPI MoM advanced by 0.3% following a prior recording -0.2%.
Listed property stocks traded mostly firmer on the day with gains being recorded for Gemgrow Properties [JSE:GPB] which rallied 7.27% to close at R4.13, Intu Properties [JSE:ITU] surged 4.47% to close at R7.94, and Growthpoint Properties [JSE:GRT] closed at R23.60 after gaining 1.77%. Rand hedge Bid Corporation [JSE:BID] advanced 3.94% to close at R330.52, while holding company Rand Merchant Investment Holdings [JSE:RMI] added 4.59% to close at R31.21. Retailers recovered some of the prior session’s losses as gains were recorded for Mr Price [JSE:MRP] which climbed 3.66% to close at R162.00, and Massmart [JSE:MSM] which gained 4.59% to close at R44.24. Other significant gainers on the day included Discovery Ltd [JSE:DSY] which added 2.7% to close at R115.76, and Bidvest [JSE:BVT] which closed at R194.06 after gaining 2.92%.
Blue Label Telecoms [JSE:BLU] had a volatile session following the release of its full-year results. The stock briefly rallied to a session high of R3.64 before it slumped to a session low of R2.84, before settling 12.13% lower at R2.97. Food producer RCL Foods [JSE:RCL] tumbled 5.45% to close at R9.36, while Rhodes Food Group [JSE:RFG] lost 2.56% to close at R15.59. Sappi [JSE:SAP] came under pressure to end the day 3.2% lower at R36.66, while gold miner Harmony Gold [JSE:HAR] lost 5.55% to close at R45.75. Oil and gas producer Sasol [JSE:SOL] slipped 1.37% to close at R264.32, while African Rainbow Minerals [JSE:ARI] closed at R141.19 after losing 1.19%.
The JSE All-Share index eventually closed 0.84% firmer while the JSE Top-40 index added 0.77%. The Financials index recouped most of the prior session’s losses as it closed 2.01% higher. The Industrials and Resources added 0.58% and 0.32% respectively.
The rand traded mildly softer on the day as it retreated to a session low of R15.08/$. At 17.00 CAT, the rand was trading 0.3% softer at R15.02/$.
Brent crude continued to slump as it was recorded trading 1.27% lower at $61.60/barrel just after the JSE close.
At 17.00 CAT, Palladium was up 1.33% to trade at $1665.90/Oz, Platinum had gained 0.62% to trade at $933.40/Oz, and Gold was 0.39% firmer to trade at $1509.42/Oz.
