The JSE rebounded to close firmer on Friday following Thursday’s trade war induced sell-off.

The local bourse tracked higher along with European indices which were buoyed by positive bank earnings, and the positive sentiment in technology stocks because of Apple’s market cap reaching $1 trillion.

The USA released the all-important Non-Farm Payrolls numbers which missed analysts’ estimates as the US economy added 157 000 jobs in July, compared to the forecast of 193 000 jobs. The unemployment rate improved to 3.9% from a prior recording of 4.0%. The US dollar eased due to these numbers as well as the news of Chinese central bank intervention to increase the reserve requirement for foreign exchange.

The rand strengthened to a session high of R13.29 against the greenback as emerging market currencies came back into favour. At 17.00 CAT, the rand was still trading at R13.29/$.

The JSE traded firmer as blue-chips rallied to lift the All-Share index. Mondi PLC [JSE:MNP] rose on the back of positive half-year results which saw the stock jump 6.54% to close at R383.90 per share. Retailers were propelled by the firmer rand which saw Truworths [JSE:TRU] gain 2.51% to close at R81.00, while Shoprite [JSE:SHP] added 2.99% to close at R215.26. Mediclinic [JSE:MEI] managed to gain 2.83% which saw the stock close at R89.50, while Aspen [JSE:APN] firmed by 1.79% to close at R261.09 per share.

Sibanye Stillwater [JSE:SGL] firmed by 5.32% to close at R8.71, and Lonmin [JSE:LON] posted gains of 2.84% to end the day at R7.25 per share. Dis-Chem [JSE:DCP] closed at R30.09 after adding 3.76% while ABSA Group [JSE:ABG] eventually closed 2.37% stronger at R169.84 per share.

On the day’s losers, Imperial Holdings [JSE:IPL] traded under pressure which saw the stock pull back 3.8% to close at R206.00 per share. Lewis Group [JSE:LEW] retreated to close at R29.01 per share after dropping 3.3%, while listed property stock, Greenbay Properties [JSE:GRP] lost 1.54% to close at R1.28.

Losses were minimal on the blue-chip index were Investec Limited [JSE:INL] shed 0.44% to close at R91.50, and Gold Fields [JSE:GFI] closed 0.21% softer at R48.00 per share. Discovery Limited [JSE:DSY] and British American Tobacco [JSE:BTI] lost 0.33% and 0.11% respectively.

The JSE All-Share Index eventually ended the day 1.15% firmer, whilst the JSE Top-40 index managed to gain 1.29%. All the major indices managed to close in the green with the biggest gainer being the Resources index which jumped 1.49%. The Industrials and Financials indices gained 1.1% and 1.14% respectively.

Gold inched higher on the day and at 17.00 CAT it was trading 0.9% firmer at $1218.61/Oz. Platinum was up 0.22% to trade at $841.29/Oz, while Palladium was trading 2.13% firmer at $918.32/Oz.

Brent crude traded relatively mixed on the day. The commodity was trading flat $73.45/barrel just after the JSE close.

At 17.00 CAT, Bitcoin was down 1.05% to trade at $7472.60/coin and Ethereum was down 0.3% to trade at $413.01/coin.