The JSE closed firmer today as retail and financial stocks inched higher on the back of the firmer Rand.
The Rand firmed in today’s session as it was inspired by the positive trade balance numbers which came out better than expected. South Africa’s Trade Balance surplus fell to R5.9 billion which is lower than the prior recording of R9.0 billion, but it beat the estimate of R2.1 billion. The Rand strengthened to intra-day highs of R13.43 against the US Dollar which saw retailers and financials trading firmer.
Mr Price [JSE:MRP] and Sanlam (JSE:SLM) were among the top gainers on the blue chip index as they gained 2.84% and 1.79% respectively. Zeder Investments had a good day out despite the release of a trading statement which indicated that they were expecting a decrease in both headline earnings per share and attributable earnings per share. The share price jumped 4.84% to close the day at R19.00 per share.
Naspers [JSE:NPN] and Shoprite [JSE:SHP] also pushed the blue chip index higher as they closed the day up 1.92% and 1.61% respectively. Tradehold [JSE:TDH] and Telkom [JSE:TKG] had a stellar day as they closed the day up 9.20% and 3.84% respectively.
Taste Holdings [JSE:TAS] came under pressure after the release of a relatively weak trading statement. The statement indicated that they are expecting more losses for the reported period, as loss per share is expected to increase by between 69.6% and 80.4%, and headline loss per share by between 72.2% and 82.2%. The share came under pressure but it managed to close the day unchanged after having been down more than 13% at some stage during the day.
The JSE All-Share Index eventually closed the day up 1.06%, whilst the blue chip Top-40 Index climbed up 1.09%. All the major indices broke the downtrend as they closed firmer today. The Industrials Index firmed by 1.32%, whilst the Resources Index firmed by 0.94%. The Financials Index benefitted from the weaker Rand to close the day 0.63% firmer.
Metal commodity prices remained subdued with Gold in particular, yet again failing to gain any significant upside momentum. The precious metal showed signs of strength earlier on but eventually lost the momentum as the US Dollar started to firm towards the end of the day. Gold was recorded at $1285.12 per ounce just after the JSE closed. Despite Gold failing to pick a clear direction Gold Fields [JSE:GFI] and [JSE:ANG] closed 2.11% and 1.43% firmer respectively.
Palladium is still within a bullish trend and it is now priced higher than Platinum. Palladium traded firmer and when the JSE closed it was trading at $940.24 per ounce, however Platinum was weaker and it was trading at $917.34 per ounce just after the close.
Brent Crude traded weaker today as it slid to intra-day lows of $57.14 per barrel. The commodity was trading at $57.10 per barrel just after the JSE closed. JSE listed oil and gas producer, Sasol [JSE:SOL] traded weaker to close at R.371.00 per share, down 0.13%.