The JSE extended its winning streak to end the shortened trading week 1.10% higher at 64,049.05 points as fears of an Evergrande default and event risk around the US Federal Reserve’s September FOMC meeting subsided.
Among the top gainers were Santam, which soared 4.85% after Fitch Ratings affirmed the short-term insurer and parent Sanlam Life’s (+0.88%) national insurer financial strength ratings at AAA(zaf). Meanwhile, Sanlam is reportedly planning to sell its entire 51% stake in Malaysian life insurer MCIS Insurance for about $100m (R1.47bn).
Adding to the bourse’s positive performance were mobile counters MTN (+4.43%) and Vodacom (+1.32%), and investment holding firm Remgro (+3.86%).
Health stocks were mixed with Aspen (+4.00%) and Adcock Ingram (+0.55%) gaining and Life Healthcare (-2.97%) and Netcare (-1.23%) losing.
Commodity shares tracked weaker commodity prices, with Gold Fields (-3.95%), Harmony (-3.61%) and Anglogold (-3.08%) all in the red.
Metals were under pressure amid a gloomy forecast for demand, with palladium plunging 1.2%, platinum 0.3% and gold losing 0.5% on the day. On the upside, the price of Brent crude increased 0.7% to $76.72 a barrel. Sasol gained 0.87%.
Buoying the bourse were heavyweight counters Richemont (+2.72%), Prosus (+2.61%) and Naspers (+2.16%).
On the currency front, the rand firmed significantly to R14.61 against the dollar from a R14.77 open after the SA Reserve Bank kept interest rates on hold at 3.5%, but the currency gave up gains to last trade at R14.71 against the greenback. Increasing its projection for inflation, the SARB said the inflation outlook is towards the upside due to rising fuel and food prices.
Elsewhere, emerging market peers Turkey delivered a surprise rate cut, causing the lira to sink to a record low and in Brazil the central bank pledged to deliver a third consecutive interest rate hike of 100 basis points next month, saying such a pace of monetary tightening is convenient to bring inflation back to target. The Bank of England also left interest rates on hold at 0.1% earlier this afternoon, while in the US weekly jobless claims came out slightly higher than expected.
What has been a very volatile week for the rand has end in calm ahead of the long weekend, comments TreasuryONE. “For now, we continue to see the rand trading range-bound within a wider 14.20/14.90 band.
“The dollar remains strong against the euro and pound after comments from the FOMC last night that tapering could start sooner than initially anticipated. It has only led to the dollar trading range-bound on the day versus its major peers,” according to the forex trading house.
On the international front, equity markets across the globe rebounded from earlier this week, with major indices like the FTSE and German DAX all in the green. In the US, the trend continued with the S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones all up over 1% in early trading this afternoon.
Indicators as at 17:00
Currencies
USDZAR 14.6407
EURUSD 1.1748
EURZAR 17.1914
GBPUSD 1.3742
GBPZAR 20.1132
AUDZAR 10.6942
CADZAR 11.5784
CNYZAR 2.2669
ZARJPY 7.5212
CHFZAR 15.8659
USDAOA 611.55
Bonds and equities
R186 7.53%
US 10 Year 1.38%
JSE 1.11%
FTSE 0.03%
S&P 500 1.17%
Commodities
Gold $1 751.81
Plat $996.59
Plad $1 992.64
Rhod $13 690.00
Irid $4 990.00
Ruth $673.00
Copp $9 251.85
Brent $76.85
Iron Ore 62.5% $120.73
Coal API4 $161.50
Gold ZAR R25 640.02
Plat ZAR R14 586.39
Indicators brought to you by TreasuryONE
