The JSE had some reprieve on Friday as the local bourse bounced following the sell-off on Thursday.
The day was much lighter in terms of earnings results compared to the previous day. Rand sensitive stocks performed well due to a stronger Rand which peaked to an intra-day high of R11.54 to the US dollar. This buoyed retail and financial stocks on the JSE including some of the diversified miners. The Rand was trading at 11.57/$ at 17.00 CAT.
Shoprite [JSE:SHP] and Spar Group [JSE:SPP] gained 3.90% and 4.87% respectively, whilst Pick n Pay [JSE:PIK] and Mr Price [JSE:MRP] added 3.00% and 2.39% respectively. Steinhoff [JSE:SNH] and EOH Holdings [JSE:EOH] had some surprise jumps as they gained 10.69% and 15.14% respectively. BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL] added 0.95% whilst South32 [JSE:S32] gained 3.28%.
On the blue chip index Remgro [JSE:REM], Bidvest [JSE:BVT] and British American Tobacco [JSE:BTI] recorded gains today to end the day up 4.66%, 2.43% and 3.56% respectively. NEPI Rockcastle [JSE:NRP] which has been under a lot of pressure lately ended the day 2.86% firmer, however this was not the case for Resilient [JSE:RES] and Fortress B [JSE:FFB] which slid further to end the day 2.07% and 3.55% weaker respectively.
Arcelormittal [JSE:ACL] was among the biggest losers as it lost 6.73% whilst Blue Label Telecoms [JSE:BLU] eased following Thursday’s rally to end the day 5.83% lower. Northam Platinum [JSE:NHM] released a relatively weak set of earnings results which saw the stock closing 2.55% softer on the day. Richemont [JSE:CFR] and Naspers [JSE:NPN] lost 0.14% and 0.10% respectively.
The broader JSE All-Share Index ended the day 0.96% firmer whilst the blue chip Top-40 Index was 0.95% firmer. All the major indices were firmer on the day with the biggest gainer being the Financials Index which gained 1.52%. The Industrials Index and the Resources Index gained 1.04% and 0.29% respectively.
A draw in US Crude Oil Inventories on Thursday saw Brent Crude climbing above $66 per barrel. On the JSE, Sasol [JSE:SOL] also gained to end the day up 1.54% at R394.50 per share. The commodity was trading at $66.57/barrel just after the JSE close.
Platinum traded softer on the day as it slid to a day’s low of $989.88/Oz. The metal rebounded marginally to trade at $993.20/Oz just after the close. Palladium was mainly flat at the open but it did gain some traction as the day went on. Palladium had peaked at $1044.05/Oz before retracing slightly to trade at $1043.47/Oz just after the close.
Gold eased in today’s session after a minor bounce overnight. This was mainly on the back of a small recovery in the US dollar from Thursday’s weakness. The precious metal was trading at $1329.05/Oz just after the close, after having a managed an intra-day high of $1332.54/Oz.