The JSE took a leaf from the Asian markets trading session as it closed firmer on Wednesday.
This contrasted with trends in Europe and the USA where stocks eased from prior session highs as doubts started to creep in over Brexit and US earnings. In the USA this was made worse by a contraction in retail sales data for the month of September.
Statistics SA also released South Africa’s retail sales data for the month of August which came in lower than forecasted. Retail sales YoY only rose by 1.1% which missed the estimated expansion of 2.6%, while retail sales MoM contracted by 0.9% which was worse than the forecasted contraction of 0.1%.
The rand came under pressure overnight as it breached R15/$ to peak at a session low of R15.05/$. The local currency was recorded trading 0.57% weaker at R14.96/$ at 17.00 CAT.
On the local bourse, EOH Holdings [JSE:EOH] rocketed 18.34% to close at R16.00 as investors reacted to the firm’s full-year results released on Tuesday. Although thin volumes exchanged hands, Rhodes Food Group [JSE:RFG] surged 14.12% to close at R16.00. Listed property stocks tracked mostly higher on the day with gains being recorded for Accelerate Property Fund [JSE:APF] which climbed 11.8% to close at R1.80, Arrowhead Properties [JSE:AHB] which rallied 4.93% to close at R3.83, and Emira Property Fund [JSE:EMI] gained 2.9% to close at R12.40. Mediclinic [JSE:MEI] was buoyed by the release of positive trading update which saw the stock close 3.83% to close at R70.50. Other gainers on the day included Sibanye Gold [JSE:SGL] which gained 5.44% to close at R25.01, and Vodacom [JSE:VOD] which closed at R126.39 after adding 2.11%.
Sappi [JSE:SAP] gave back some of the prior session’s gains as it lost 3.47% to close at R38.63, while Nampak [JSE:NPK] lost 3.42% to close at R10.72. Intu Properties [JSE:ITU] also stumbled as it lost 3.21% to end the day at R9.05, while Hospitality Property Fund [JSE:HFB] dropped 2.44% to close at R8.00. Sun International [JSE:SUI] struggled on the day as it shed 1.83% to close at R43.00, while Tsogo Sun Hotels [JSE:TGO] fell 2.08% to end the day at R3.77. Other significant losers on the day included Pan African Resources [JSE:PAN] which lost 1.41% to end the day at R2.10, while Glencore [JSE:GLN] retreated 0.61% to close at R44.16.
The JSE All-Share index closed 0.93% while the JSE Top-40 index managed to close 0.945 higher. The Resources index gained 0.53%, while the Industrials and Financials indices gained 1.16% and 1.08% respectively.
At 17.00 CAT, Gold was up 0.3% to trade at $1485.48/Oz, Platinum was 0.43% weaker at $881.55/Oz, while Palladium had risen 2.32% to trade at $1778.75/Oz.
Brent crude advanced on the day and it was recorded trading 1.02% firmer at $59.30/barrel just after the JSE close.
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