The JSE closed flat on Monday after another sluggish trading session in which the local bourse struggled to find direction.

The Rand weakened further against the US dollar despite the greenback trading under pressure for the better portion of today’s session. The Rand weakened to an intra-day low of R12.10/$ before it recovered to trade at R12.04/$ at 17.00 CAT.

Volatility persisted in local equities which saw a couple of blue chip stocks recording significant swings. The most significant swings were recorded in Naspers [JSE:NPN], which has been characteristic of the stock over the past few trading sessions. The stock eventually closed at R3418.00 per share, up 0.29% for the day.

The biggest jump of the day was recorded in Hammerson [JSE:HMN] which gained 26.46% to close at R92.00 per share. This was after the announcement of a takeover bid by Klepierre which is a French based company. Hammerson rejected the offer in a statement that they issued earlier on this morning.

Lonmin [JSE:LON] and Intu Properties [JSE:ITU] were the other notable moves higher as they gained 5.16% and 4.52% respectively. Growthpoint Properties [JSE:GRT] and Gold Fields [JSE:GFI] led gains amongst the blue-chip counters as they firmed by 2.29% and 1.80% respectively. Bid Corp [JSE:BID] and Woolworths [JSE:WHL] added 1.77% and 1.98% respectively.

Royal Bafokeng Platinum [JSE:RBP] and African Rainbow Minerals [JSE:ARM] featured amongst the day’s biggest losers after they shed 10.79% and 7.29% respectively. Stadio Holdings [JSE:SDO] and Assore [JSE:ASR] lost 7.11% and 6.33% respectively, whilst EOH Holdings [JSE:EOH] closed below R50 per share, at R48.50 per share, down 4.19% for the day.

The JSE All-Share Index eventually closed down 0.02%, whilst the JSE Top-40 Index firmed by 0.03%. The Resources Index was the biggest casualty of the day as it lost 1.28%. The Industrials Index and the Financials Index managed to record gains of 0.33% and 0.08% respectively.

Brent Crude continued to trade under pressure as fears of increased US shale output persisted. The commodity did bounce from its session low of $65.39/barrel to trade at $65.74/barrel just after the JSE close.

Gold traded in the red for the entirety of Monday’s session despite the US dollar coming under significant pressure. The precious metal slipped to a session low of $1307.86/Oz, but it managed to rebound to trade at $1313.31/Oz at 17.00 CAT.  

Platinum traded softer for the better part of today’s session but it gained momentum towards the JSE close to peak at a session high of $957.35/Oz. It eased to trade at $951.97/Oz just after the close. Palladium did try to gain some momentum and it briefly traded in the green, however that quickly faded as the metal slid to trade at $991.41/Oz just after the JSE close.