The JSE, which for the most part of the day dabbled in the green, ended 0.48% down at 65,849.75 points after most gold counters gave up their intraday gains.
Anglogold ended only 1.81% higher after soaring 6% following the appointment of former BHP Group executive Alberto Calderon to its top job and on a firmer gold price.
Gold rose to the highest in more than two weeks, reclaiming the psychologically important level of $1,800/oz as investors awaited Federal Reserve minutes for more clues on the monetary policy path, reports Bloomberg. Platinum and palladium traded mostly flat around $1,086 and $2,793 respectively.
According to Blomberg the gold price has risen about 3.5% since hitting a two-month low in late June, aided by a drop off in inflation-adjusted Treasury yields which burnishes the appeal of the non-interest-bearing metal.
The rand also turned sharply weaker, from testing R14.17 in early morning trade to last change hands at R14.40 to the greenback. TreasuryONE says emerging markets have come under pressure as soon as US markets returned from yesterday’s holiday. “The sharp reaction could be the return of US markets, betting on hawkish FOMC minutes entering into new long dollar positions. This could remain the play until tomorrow night, and the rand could remain on the backfoot until then,” says the trading house.
The stronger dollar cooled oil’s rally, with Brent dropping $2.70 to last trade at $74.46 a barrel.
Mining heavyweights Glencore (-3.08%) and Anglo (-2.75%) were among the biggest losers along with Sasol (-2.60%).
In the green, Massmart added 4.03%, DRDGold 2.95% and Bytes 2.26%.
Embattled retailer Steinhoff got clobbered a further 14.2% after losing 16.3% in the previous session as investors dumped the stock following the Western Cape High Court on Friday declared legally void key aspects of Steinhoff’s €900m (R15bn) plan to settle about €10bn in claims it’s facing in various jurisdictions across the globe.
In other currencies the euro is firmly under pressure as the dollar continues to show the bit between its teeth, pushing further ahead as they return from the long weekend, reports TreasuryONE. It says a break above 1.18 could set into action further dollar strength. The pound continues to hover around 1.38, down 0.3% from this morning.
Indicators as of 17:00
Currencies
USDZAR 14.3783
EURUSD 1.1821
EURZAR 16.9915
GBPUSD 1.3790
GBPZAR 19.8217
AUDZAR 10.7748
CADZAR 11.5130
CNYZAR 2.2189
ZARJPY 7.6846
CHFZAR 15.5495
USDAOA 648.55
Equities and bonds
R186 7.53%
US 10 Year 1.36%
JSE -0.51%
FTSE -1.18%
S&P 500 -0.64%
Commodities
Gold $1 803.69
Plat $1 086.01
Plad $2 793.58
Rhod $18 890.00
Irid $5 640.00
Ruth $748.00
Copp $9 274.50
Brent $74.61
Iron Ore 62.5% $212.46
Coal API4 $119.00
Gold ZAR R25 917.94
Plat ZAR R15 605.31
Indicators brought to you by TreasuryONE
