The JSE closed lower for a 3rd consecutive session as it failed to find the bottom of it’s current slide.
The majority of the JSE Top-40 Index traded in the red with stocks such as Sappi and Mr Price coming under significant pressure to close the day down 1.87% and 1.58% respectively. Index heavyweight, Richemont, also traded under significant pressure eventually closing 1.27% weaker.
Gainers included Assore which released its full year results for the year ended June 2017. The results indicate that the business had record headline and attributable earnings as well as record sales volumes of iron ore and chrome ores. Headlines earnings for the financial year increased by 199% to a record of R5.2 billion compared to R1.7 billion for the previous year. The company declared a final dividend of 1400 cents, up from 700 cents in 2016. The stock bounced on the back of those results to close the day up 1.33% at R268.00 per share.
Following up on the trading statement from yesterday, Sibanye Gold released results for the 6 months ended June 2017. They also announced their name change from Sibanye Gold to Sibanye-Stillwater. The results indicated a headline loss of R2.1 billion, whilst basic losses amounted to R4.8 billion. Gold and Platinum operating margins decreased to 21% and 8%, from 38% & 10% respectively. US operations contributed to earnings for the first time which helped offset some of the decrease in gold operating margins. The stock closed the day down 4.89% at R20.82 per share.
The JSE Top-40 Index closed the day down 0.42%, whilst the JSE All-Share Index lost 0.43%. The Resources Index was the only major index to close in the green as it inched up 0.13%. The Industrials Index lost 0.42% and the Financials Index closed down 1.04%.
Gold traded under pressure today as it retraced from the highs seen yesterday. The metal shed most of its gains recorded yesterday to reach an intra-day low of $1305.11 per ounce. This resulted in JSE listed Gold miners trading under pressure for the better part of the day, however, AngloGold Ashanti managed to turn positive towards the close, to end the day 0.94% firmer. Harmony Gold closed unchanged whilst Gold Fields shed 0.96%. Gold was trading at $1308.31 per ounce just after the JSE closed.
Platinum and Palladium traded under pressure as metal commodities in general seemed to take a break from the strong rally that we have seen so far. Platinum broke below $1000 per ounce yet again to reach an intra-day low of $984.84 per ounce. It was trading at $993.36 per ounce just after the JSE closed. Palladium also retraced from yesterday’s highs to reach intra-day lows of $930.83 per ounce. It was trading at $939.09 per ounce just after the JSE closed.
Brent Crude failed to gain any upside momentum despite a bigger draw than expected in US Crude Inventories. US Inventories decreased by 5.3 million barrels which was significantly more than the anticipated 1.9 million barrels. Brent Crude did not bounce on the back of this data and it does seem the commodity is becoming resilient to this set of data. Brent Crude was trading at $51.49 per barrel just after the JSE closed.
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