The JSE rebounded to close firmer on Friday as it was buoyed by the firmer close recorded in Chinese markets.
Chinese markets rose despite the implementation of the tariff hike on $US200 billion worth of Chinese goods on Friday. China is widely expected to retaliate to these tariffs, but no specified action has been detailed yet. It has been a rough week for global stocks since Donald Trump made his intent about the tariff hike known. In China, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 3.63% while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng managed to gain 0.84%. Although this relief might be temporary, European markets also managed to rise on the back of that sentiment. US equity futures on the other hand remained subdued, which eventually saw US markets open weaker.
Locally the rand rallied along with other emerging market currencies mainly on the back of the weaker US dollar. The rand gained over a percent against the greenback as it peaked at R14.17/$, before retracing to trade 0.93% firmer at R14.21/$ at 17.00 CAT.
On the JSE, financials led the gains mainly on the back of the stronger rand. Standard Bank [JSE:SBK] gained 4.08% to close at R203.60, FirstRand [JSE:FSR] rose 3.72% to close at R69.50, and Nedbank [JSE:NED] added 3.13% to end the day at R273.80. Retailers also advanced on the day with significant gains being recorded for Woolworths [JSE:WHL] which added 2.63% to close at R48.03, The Foschini Group [JSE:TFG] which climbed 2.36% to R191.62, and Massmart [JSE:MSM] which gained 1.77% to close at R87.57. Grindrod [JSE:GND] closed amongst the day’s biggest gainers after it climbed 4.02% to close at R7.50. Discovery [JSE:DSY] managed to add 3.12% to close at R149.67, while Impala Platinum [JSE:IMP] closed at R57.85 after gaining 2.59%.
Of the day’s losers, Steinhoff International [JSE:SNH] slumped further in today’s session as it fell 11.25% to close at R1.42. Miners struggled on the day with losses being recorded for giant Anglo American PLC [JSE:AGL] which lost 1.47% to close at R350.25, as well as BHP Group [JSE:BHP] which dropped 0.51% to close at R322.59. Gold miner AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG] weakened by 2.9% to close at R163.84, while Harmony Gold [JSE:HAR] lost 1.31% to close at R23.28. Rand hedge British American Tobacco [JSE:BTI] fell 2.45% to end the day at R528.09, while telecoms provider MTN Group [JSE:MTN] lost 2.76% to close at R97.65.
The JSE All-Share index eventually closed 0.57% firmer while the blue-chip JSE Top-40 index gained 0.58%. The Resources index was the only major index to close softer as it lost 0.51%. The Industrials and Financials indices gained 0.29% and 2.55% respectively.
Following the previous session’s fall, brent crude poked back above $70/barrel to peak at a session high of $71.22/barrel. Brent crude was trading 0.04% firmer at $70.38/barrel just after the JSE close.
At 17.00 CAT, Gold was 0.29% firmer at $1287.74/Oz, Palladium had rallied 3.75% to trade at $1347.85/Oz, and Platinum was up 1.33% to trade at $860.10/Oz.
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