The JSE ended the day 0.13% in the red at 64,281.77 points, recording the worst monthly drop since late October last year.
Commodities, which were responsible for most of the 4% monthly decline, were among today’s winners, with Thungela Resources gaining 6.74%, Anglogold 4.40%, Northam Platinum 4.21% and Implats 4.20% as the rout on commodity prices showed a glimpse of recovery. Palladium (+2.6% at last count) gained the most, with gold gaining 1.8% and platinum 1.31%.
Other heavyweight culprits weighing on the bourse this month, tech behemoth Naspers and subsidiary Prosus, were down 2.82% and 2.42% respectively.
Embattled retailer Steinhoff slumped 8.00% after suffering a fresh delay to have its urgent bid for a R25bn settlement offer approved as compensation for the 2017 share price collapse.
“Pro-vaccine” Capitec lost 3.3% despite posting a more than five-fold rise in profits and restored an interim dividend of R12 a share after declaring no dividend last year. Banking peers were mixed, with Standard Bank losing 0.86% and FirstRand 0.02%, while Absa gained 1.49% and Nedbank 0.61%.
Rex Trueform, owner of the Queenspark fashion retailer, was a top winner, surging 20% after posting a 262.5% jump in profits.
Sasol gained 2.7% as Brent Crude changed hands 0.67% higher at $79 a barrel in volatile trading.
On the economic front, South Africa’s trade surplus widened to R42.40bn in August from a revised surplus of R37.01bn in July, private sector credit rose by 1.12% year-on-year in August and PPI print for August showed an increase of 7.2% y/y, all relatively in line with expectations.
In the currency markets, the rand rebounded to last trade at R15.09 against the US dollar from a selloff in the previous session and as “the stronger dollar, risk-off sentiment and concerns over the impact of the power outages on the Chinese economy, led to the local unit testing R15.24 in today’s session”, comments TreasuryONE.
“Volatility in the currency markets remains visible as the rand traded in a 20cent range for the day. We remain vigilant on the strength of the dollar and the impact of foreign matters in terms of risk-off but could expect the rand to regain some more ground during the next couple of trading sessions,” says the forex trading house.
Indicators as at 17:00
Currencies
USDZAR 15.0446
EURUSD 1.1588
EURZAR 17.4285
GBPUSD 1.3477
GBPZAR 20.2695
AUDZAR 10.8650
CADZAR 11.8688
CNYZAR 2.3312
ZARJPY 7.4146
CHFZAR 1 6.1184
USDAOA 598.65
Bonds and equities
R186 7.60%
US 10 Year 1.53%
JSE 0.10%
FTSE -0.31%
S&P 500 0.08%
Commodities
Gold $1 757.06
Plat $960.15
Plad $1 899.00
Rhod $13 690.00
Irid $4 990.00
Ruth $673.00
Copp $9 040.30
Brent $77.93
Iron Ore 62.5% $119.70
Coal API4 $167.00
Gold ZAR R26 426.36
Plat ZAR R14 440.78
Indicators brought to you by TreasuryONE
