The JSE closed mixed on Thursday, with the All Share index slightly firmer while the futures market was lower. Asian markets set the tone for the day, broadly trading weaker.
The rand was slightly weaker on Thursday afternoon trading at R11.89 to the greenback, following the European Central Bank decision on interest rates, leaving policy unchanged.
The All Share Index gained 0.10% while the blue -chip Top 40 eased 0.03%, pulled lower by heavily weighted industrial stocks.
Naspers [JSE:NPN], the largest company on the JSE, fell 1.41% due to a drop in its Chinese investment, Tencent, falling 2.35% on the Hang Seng.
Banking continued their positive momentum, with the overall index gaining 2.10%, led by Standard Bank [JSE:SBK] climbing 3.37% to R206.55
Woolworths [JSE:WHL] slipped a further 2.13% to R64.27 after the business released a statement informed the market that it had impaired the value of its investment in Australian department store chain David Jones by nearly R7bn.
The Euro extended its overnight rally on the ECB’s policy decision today, with the euro trading at $1.2528, its strongest level since December 2014. The ECB decided to keep interest rates in the eurozone unchanged, driving the euro to three-year highs against the dollar.
The yield on 10-year German government bonds, the benchmark for the euro bloc, hit a 6-month high at 0.56 percent and Southern European bond yields unwound earlier falls. That also pushed U.S. Treasury yields to the cusp of 2.67 percent.
US markets opened firmer, with the Dow up 0.39% at the close of local markets.
The dollar index stretched overnight losses to plumb the 88.89 level, marking three-year lows, with the market not responding well to concerns about US protectionism after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin suggested a weak greenback would be good for the US.