Investors piled into retail stocks, fuelling the JSE to close over 1% higher.
Losers of the previous session, retails stocks turned top winners on the day, with Massmart (+6.53%) leading the pack. Mr Price and Truworths both surged more than 5%, while TFG added 4.36% and Pick n Pay 3.94%.
Among the laggards were heavyweight miners Implats (-1.44%) and Harmony (-2.30%) which took a knock from softer metals prices.
Gold lost 1%, threatening to break below $1,750 as the stronger dollar weighed, while platinum extending its June rout by another 2% to last trade at $1,066. Palladium is also softer and hovers in the low $2,670s.
The rand also felt the brunt of the stronger dollar, slipping 0.54% to trade at R14.33 against the greenback at local markets close. TreasuryONE says the cause of the weaker rand is likely several factors, but month-end demand for dollars and closing of dollar short positions ahead of Friday seem to be major drivers. The trading house expects the rand to remain fairly range-bound until Friday’s non-farm payroll figures, “perhaps testing the 14.40s as the week evolves”.
“Since the June FOMC minutes, the market has been dominated by the strong dollar, losing momentum over the past couple of days. Today we have seen some more momentum as major currencies lost further ground against the greenback. The dollar broke below the 1.19 handle against the euro, testing as low as 1.1880, while the pound has lost nearly 0.5% and exchanges at 1.3830,” comments TreasuryONE.
Meanwhile, Brent Crude bounced back after weakening amid fears of the impact the new Covid delta variant may have on global demand. It was last trading above $75 a barrel.
Indicators as of 17:00
Currencies
USDZAR 14.3241
EURUSD 1.1894
EURZAR 17.0343
GBPUSD 1.3827
GBPZAR 19.8028
AUDZAR 10.7628
CADZAR 11.5582
CNYZAR 2.2144
ZARJPY 7.7074
CHFZAR 15.5351
USDAOA 651.56
Equities and bonds
R186 7.44%
US 10 Year 1.49%
JSE 1.12%
FTSE 0.36%
S&P 500 0.18%
S&P 500 -0.01%
Commodities
Gold $1 753.86
Plat $1 069.62
Plad $2 676.24
Rhod $20 090.00
Irid $5 740.00
Ruth $748.00
Copp $9 225.35
Brent $75.06
Iron Ore 62.5% $215.26
Coal API4 $116.00
Gold ZAR R25 094.76
Plat ZAR R15 304.44
Indicators brought to you by TreasuryONE
