The JSE closed the week on a positive note as it closed firmer on Friday mainly on the back of gains in resources and financials.

Financials were buoyed by the firmer rand which peaked at a session high of R13.60 against the greenback. The strengthening of the rand was mainly on the back of the US dollar which weakened against a basket of major currencies as US Treasury yields rose. The weaker US dollar led to an appreciation in metal commodity prices as they traded mostly firmer on the day, which fed into the strengthening of JSE listed miners.

Pan-African Resources [JSE:PAN] managed to close amongst the day’s biggest gainers after the stock gained 6.06% to close at R1.75. Cement maker, PPC Limited [JSE:PPC] posted gains of 4.81% to end the day at R5.45. Brait [JSE:BAT] added 3.32% to close at R28.00, while Old Mutual [JSE:OMU] firmed by 3.42% to close at R23.27. Banker, Nedbank [JSE:NED] climbed 2.9% to close at R288.27, while Standard Bank [JSE:SBK] closed at R194.94 after gaining 3.69%. Diversified miner, Anglo American PLC [JSE:AGL] added 1.54% to end the day at R327.32, while BHP Group [JSE:BHP] closed 1.63% higher at R286.11.

AVI Limited [JSE:AVI] traded under significant pressure in today’s session ultimately closing the day 8.68% weaker at R95.45. Blue Label Telecoms [JSE:BLU] also wobbled as it fell 5.29% to close at R4.83. The Spar Group [JSE:SPP] struggled despite the firmer rand as it lost 3.72% to close at R200.25. Tiger Brands [JSE:TBS] lost 2.94% to close at R277.00, Mediclinic [JSE:MEI] lost 2.92% to R57.28, and Pioneer Foods [JSE:PNR] closed 1.9% softer at R82.00.

The JSE All-Share index eventually closed 0.71% firmer while the JSE Top-40 index gained 0.82%. The Industrials index retreated marginally to close 0.16% weaker. The Financials and Resources indices rallied 1.86% and 1.87% respectively.

At 17.00 CAT, Gold was up 1.01% to trade at $1294.12/Oz, Platinum had firmed by 1.6% to $816.05/Oz and Palladium was up 0.89% to $1335.92/oz.

Brent crude recovered marginally on the day to eventually trade 0.67% firmer at $61.50/barrel just after the JSE close.

At 17.000 CAT, Bitcoin was 0.32% weaker at $3626.00/coin, while Ethereum was down 0.65% at $117.77/coin.