The JSE closed weaker for a fourth consecutive session on Friday to end the week in the red as the sell-off on the local bourse persisted.

Financials and retailers weakened yet again despite the rand firming to a session high of R13.22 against the US dollar. This coupled by the weakness in index heavyweight Naspers [JSE:NPN], dragged the All-Share index lower. Blue-chips struggled to gain any momentum which saw only a handful of stocks recording significant gains.

The Rand was buoyed by the rebound of other emerging market currencies which were trading marginally firmer despite the US dollar holding on to its gains. At 17.00 CAT, the rand was trading at R13.26/$.

Platinum miner, Impala Platinum [JSE:IMP] lost 8.53% to close at R19.74 as it ended amongst the day’s biggest losers. Kumba Iron Ore [JSE:KIO] was 3.21% weaker to close at R299.19 whilst Exxaro [JSE:EXX] dropped 3.96% to close at R128.00 per share. Anglo American Platinum [JSE:AMS] and Lonmin [JSE:LON] shed 4% and 3.4% respectively.

Gold miner, AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG] shed 2.34% to close at R112.62 and its sector peer Gold Fields [JSE:GFI] lost 2.05% to close at R46.87 per share. Naspers [JSE:NPN] closed at R3393.03 per share after dropping 2.08%, and banks ABSA Group [JSE:ABG] and FirstRand [JSE:FSR] lost 1.68% and 0.47% respectively.

Gains were very limited on the blue-chip index, this saw Redefine Properties [JSE:RDF] add 1.22% to close at R10.73, while Aspen [JSE:APN] added 0.25% to close at R257.26 per share. Rand hedge Richemont [JSE:CFR] managed to add 0.57% to close at 111.62, while Capitec Holdings [JSE:CPI] was the odd one amongst the banks after adding 0.69% to close at R903.52.

PPC Limited [JSE:PPC] closed at R6.64 per share after adding another 5.56% while Stadio Holdings [JSE:SDO] posted gains of 1.72% to close at R4.14 per share. Steinhoff International recorded another impressive rally which saw it trade as high as R3.48 per share. The stock eventually closed at R3.26 per share, recording gains of 8.33%.

The JSE All-Share index eventually closed 0.85% weaker while the JSE Top-40 index also lost 0.85%. The Resources index took the biggest knock as it dropped 1.04%. The Industrials and Financials indices lost 0.97% and 0.26% respectively.

Brent crude traded mostly softer as it slipped to a session low of $73.22/barrel before recovering to trade at $75.02/barrel just after the JSE close.

Gold weakened to a session low of $1236.56/Oz mainly due to the stronger US dollar. It recovered marginally to trade at $1242.11/Oz at 17.00 CAT, up 0.77% on the day. Platinum was 1.82% weaker at $826.60/Oz and Palladium was down 1.27% at $939.47/Oz.

At 17.00 CAT, Bitcoin was trading 1.15% firmer at $6245.90/coin while Ethereum was up 1.75% at $436.59/coin.