The JSE ended the week as it started, in the red with losses in platinum stocks weighing heavily.
African Rainbow Minerals lost 7.27%, Implats 6.85% and Northam 5.84%. Anglo American (-0.77%) and Kumba Iron Ore (-1.41%) added to the slump, but BHP (+1.52%) and Glencore (+1.28%) bucked the trend. Gold miners Gold Fields (+2.56%) and Harmony (+2.17%) tracked the firmer gold price, with the metal last trading 0.2% higher at $1787.20/oz.
Palladium was again the worst performing commodity, adding 1.3% to take its weekly loss to more than 10%. The metal was last trading at $2,284/oz. Platinum, however, eked out a modest gain to last trade at $990/oz.
Mr Price took a 6.5% hit despite an upbeat trade update for the 18 weeks to 7 August 2021 in which the fashion retailer posted an almost 50% gain in retail sales and other income.
MTN gave up 1.95% after the Public Investment Corporation cut its shareholding in the mobile operator to 22.7%. Peer Vodacom was down 0.44%.
In the currency markets, the rand flirted with the R15.40-level against the US dollar, but has since retreated to last trade at R15.34/$. “The rand and other emerging market currencies are currently in the crosshairs of a hawkish Fed but also a global growth concern, with the Covid-19 Delta variant causing renewed lockdowns and thus lower economic growth going forward.
“Low world growth is normally seen as a ‘risk-off’, and the rand could suffer because of this. In saying that, we believe the rand is overextended and could claw back some ground in the short term,” comments TreasuryONE.
Indicators as at 17:00
Currencies
USDZAR 15.3118
EURUSD 1.1676
EURZAR 17.8727
GBPUSD 1.3612
GBPZAR 20.8362
AUDZAR 10.9064
CADZAR 11.8928
CNYZAR 2.3542
ZARJPY 7.1682
CHFZAR 16.6727
USDAOA 635.24
Equities and bonds
R186 7.36%
US 10 Year 1.24%
JSE -0.12%
FTSE 0.39%
S&P 500 0.58%
Commodities
Gold $1 781.50
Plat $988.22
Plad $2 276.14
Rhod $18 290.00
Irid $5 190.00
Ruth $723.00
Copp $8 921.85
Brent $65.93
Iron Ore 62.5% $160.38
Coal API4 $141.00
Gold ZAR R27 269.78
Plat ZAR R15 126.88
Indicators brought to you by TreasuryONE
