The local bourse tracked other global markets higher as it managed to close firmer on Tuesday.
Although modest, major equity indices in Asia inched higher while a similar trend was also recorded in Europe including the United Kingdom where Boris Johnson won the Conservative party leadership contest to become the new UK prime minister. In the USA the outlook is more skewed towards the flurry of earnings from some of the USA’s biggest stocks which will be released during the week. Subsequently, the S&P 500 index opened slightly firmer on the back of positive earnings results from Coca-Cola and United Technologies.
On the currency market the US dollar advanced on the day on the back of pullbacks recorded in the British Pound and the Euro. Emerging market currencies also traded relatively softer to the greenback which saw the local currency on the back foot for the better portion of today’s session. The rand fell to a session low of R13.95/$ before it was recorded trading 0.23% weaker at R13.88/$ at 17.00 CAT.
On the JSE, Mondi PLC [JSE:MNP] closed amongst the day’s biggest gainers following the release of a trading statement for its half financial year in which the company indicated that it is expecting a significant increase earnings. The stock ended the day 1.93% higher at R314.17. Diversified mining giant Anglo American PLC [JSE:AGL] rose 0.83% to end the day at R391.09 as one of its business units, Kumba Iron Ore released its interim results. Impala Platinum [JSE:IMP] advanced 2.23% to close at R73.50 while South32 [JSE:S32] gained 1.34% to close at R30.35. Other significant gainers on the day included Hammerson PLC [JSE:HMN] which gained 2.25% to close at R47.19, RCL Foods [JSE:RCL] which added 5.17% to close at R11.80, and Sappi [JSE:SAP] which closed at R53.27 after gaining 2.5%.
Kumba Iron Ore [JSE:KIO] came under pressure despite the release of a decent set of half-year results. The stock closed 2.93% weaker at R475.90. EOH Holdings [JSE:EOH] lost further ground in today’s session as it dropped 5.31% to close at R18.00. Northam Platinum [JSE:NHM] struggled as it fell 4.62% to close at R62.00, while cement maker PPC Limited [JSE:PPC] dropped 4.41% to close at R4.55. Gold miners also traded mostly softer on the day which saw Gold Fields [JSE:GFI] close 1.08% weaker at R76.59, while Harmony Gold [JSE:HAR] closed at R34.34 after dropping 0.98%.
The JSE All-Share index held onto its gains to close 0.29% firmer while the blue-chip JSE Top-40 index gained 0.61%. All the major indices managed to record gains on the day. Resources rose 0.69%, Industrials added 0.21%, and Financials managed to add 0.72%.
At 17.00 CAT, Gold was 0.04% weaker at $1423.99/Oz, Platinum was up 0.65% to trade at $853.65/Oz, and Palladium had shed 0.56% to trade at $1521.30/Oz.
Brent crude eased in today’s session which saw it trading 0.33% weaker at $63.05/barrel just after the JSE close.
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