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Cape Town - The JSE found some relief on Thursday as it closed firmer following consecutive trading sessions of significant losses.
The bounce in the local bourse was supported by a firmer closer in Asian markets earlier on, as well as the majority of blue-chip stocks which were trading in the green. Mediclinic [JSE:MEI] and Shoprite [JSE:SHP] were amongst the biggest gainers on the Top-40 Index as they gained 5.97% and 2.75% respectively.
Diversified miners Anglo American PLC [JSE:AGL] and BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL] added 2.82% and 3.12% respectively, whilst British American Tobacco [JSE:BTI] maintained its upward momentum to end the day up 3.65%.
Stadio [JSE:SDO] was the biggest gainer on the broader All-Share Index as it jumped 10.6% to close at R5.74 per share. Pan-African Resources [JSE:PAN] and Kumba Iron Ore [JSE:KIO] added 4.35% and 2.84% respectively, whilst Massmart [JSE:MSM] and Brait [JSE:BAT] gained 2.27% and 3.05% respectively. Distell [JSE:DST] and Ascendis Health [JSE:ASC] firmed by 2.85% and 1.64% respectively.
Nampak [JSE:NPK] traded under significant pressure to eventually close the day down 9.79%, at R15.20 per share. EOH Holdings [JSE:EOH] slid even further to close at R43.00 per share, down 6.52% for the day. Gold mining shares Gold Fields [JSE:GFI] and Harmony Gold [JSE:HAR] firmed by 1.88% and 2.44% respectively mainly on the back of higher rand valued gold prices.
Listed property stocks Redefine Properties [JSE:RDF] and Growthpoint properties [JSE:GRT] shed 1.11% and 2.71% respectively.
The JSE All-Share Index closed the day 1.30% firmer, whilst the JSE Top-40 Index gained 1.36%. All the major indices closed firmer today with the biggest gainer being the Resources index which gained 2.46%. The Financials Index and the Industrials Index lost 1.88% and 0.70% respectively.
The rand slid against major currency pairs and against the greenback in particular, it slid to a session low of R11.89/$. At 17:00 CAT it was trading at R11.84./$.
Gold traded relatively flat following its overnight slide. The precious metal reached a session low of $1 321.68/Oz before it rebounded marginally to trade at $1 322.76/Oz at 17:00 CAT. The US dollar index also traded flat in Thursday's session as it found significant resistance at 90 index points.
After trading mostly flat for the better part of Thursday's session, platinum and palladium came under pressure and traded softer towards the close of the JSE. At 17:00 CAT platinum and palladium were trading at $931.54/Oz and $948.85/Oz respectively.
Brent Crude managed to recoup all of its losses to trade flat after an earlier slide. The commodity reached a session low of $69.10/barrel, before it recovered to trade at $69.68/barrel just after the close.
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