The local equity market was mixed on Friday in a session where the JSE swung between the red and green, as it struggled to gain significant momentum in either direction.
The Rand traded softer against the US dollar as the greenback strengthened for a 3rd consecutive session. The Rand reached a session low of R11.99/$ but it retraced slightly to trade at R11.97/$ at 17.00 CAT.
African Rainbow Minerals [JSE:ARM] jumped 8.32% after the release of an upbeat set of six months earnings results for the year ended 31 December 2017. The company also declared a maiden interim dividend of 250 cents per share. Lewis [JSE:LEW] also ended the day’s top gainers as it added 6.93%, whilst Murray and Roberts [JSE:MUR] jumped 5.67% following the announcement of their successful bids for underground mining projects in North America and Australia.
Mr Price [JSE:MRP] and Fortress B [JSE:FFB] were the biggest gainers on the blue-chip index as they gained 2.94% and 2.41% respectively. Sasol [JSE:SOL] and Anglo American PLC [JSE:AGL] firmed by 0.40%% and 0.61%% respectively, whilst retailer Woolworths [JSE:WHL] added 0.20% despite the softer Rand.
Harmony Gold [JSE:HAR] gave up most of its gains from the previous day as the stock lost 5.65% to close at R25.21 per share. Impala Platinum [JSE:IMP] and Ascendis Health [JSE:ASC] also anchored the bottom of the broader All-Share Index as they lost 6.34% and 7.80% respectively.
Naspers [JSE:NPN] continued to drag the Top-40 Index lower as it shed another 1.66% to close at R3408.00 per share. Nedbank [JSE:NED] and Investec PLC [JSE:INP] lost 2.10% and 1.58% respectively, whilst Remgro [JSE:REM] and Bidvest [JSE:BVT] shed 1.56% and 0.41% respectively.
The JSE Top-40 Index eventually closed down 0.37%, whilst the broader JSE All-Share Index managed to gain 0.15%. The Resources Index was the only other major index to close in the green as it gained 0.67%. The Industrials and Financials Indices lost 0.17% and 0.43% respectively.
The US dollar extended its gains against a basket a major currencies after the release of better than expected job openings data from the USA. This resulted in Gold coming under pressure as it slid to a session low of $1309.82/Oz. At 17.00 the precious metal was trading at $1310.01/Oz, down 0.46% for the day.
Platinum came off sharply following the release of US economic data which was mostly better than expected. The metal slid to a session low of $945.90/Oz which is where it was trading at the JSE close. Volatility in Palladium was rife as the metal also swung between positive and negative. It managed to peak to a session high of $992.24/Oz before it came under significant pressure to trade at $984.75/Oz just after the close.
Brent Crude traded mostly flat but it did manage to reach a session high of $65.32/barrel. It had retraced marginally to trade at $65.10/barrel just after the close.
