The JSE ended in the green on Thursday, with Old Mutual and mining and metals firm South32 leading the gains.
Old Mutual hit a seven-month high before settling up 6.12% at R13.70 following its announcement that it would further unbundle its stake in Nedbank to only 7%, returning about R10bn in value to shareholders.
South32 added 7.46% to R31.97 after a strong push in the last hour of trading following a tip from Goldman Sachs that the mining giant’s share price would skyrocket.
Goldman Sachs analysts reiterated their conviction buy rating on the miner and lifted their price target on its shares to $3.80, the leading stock broker said in a note to clients. It also said its commodities team has become very positive on aluminium and has upgraded its price forecasts for the metal on the back of expected material cost-inflation, combined with a sharp deceleration in primary metal production.
In currency markets, the rand tracked emerging market peers sideways, ending the day almost unchanged at R14.25 against the US dollar. TreasuryONE expects the local unit to continue to drift in these levels as little in the way of data or events are happening tonight. For its part, the US dollar also traded in a narrow band, with the greenback last trading at 1.1927 against the euro.
In the commodities market, gold ended local trade at $1,778, platinum at $1,087 and palladium at $2,637/oz, while Brent Crude changed hands at $75.40 a barrel.
In the US, equity markets started the day off in the green, with both the Dow and S&P 500 up by more than 0.5%.
Indicators as of 17:00
Currencies
USDZAR 14.2479
EURUSD 1.1927
EURZAR 16.9883
GBPUSD 1.3902
GBPZAR 19.8015
AUDZAR 10.7910
CADZAR 11.5464
CNYZAR 2.2005
ZARJPY 7.7783
CHFZAR 15.4990
USDAOA 651.64
Equities and bonds
R186 7.32%
US 10 Year 1.49%
JSE 0.74%
FTSE 0.61%
S&P 500 0.65%
Commodities
Gold $1 780.68
Plat $1 089.99
Plad $2 644.29
Rhod $19 240.00
Irid $5 990.00
Ruth $748.00
Copp $9 390.50
Brent $75.34
Iron Ore 62.5% $213.80
Coal API4 $111.00
Gold ZAR R25 337.47
Plat ZAR R15 509.58
Indicators brought to you by TreasuryONE
