The JSE jumped 0.44% to close the day on 68,279.40 points amid a glittering gold performance and as Royal Bafokeng continued to lure investors on the impending takeover from Northam Platinum.
The gold price jumped 1.5% to $1,860/oz as investors, spooked by US inflation numbers, took flight to the safe haven asset. This fueled gold stocks, with Anglogold leading the charge with a 10.27% stock price gain. Gold Fields, Harmony and DRDGold weren’t far behind, adding 7.80%, 7.63% and 6.57% respectively. RBPlats closed 7.09% stronger.
Platinum and palladium have both had similar boosts to their price, with platinum gaining more than 2% and palladium over 1% to last trade at $1,084.52 and $2,051.00 respectively, while Brent Crude surged to $85 a barrel. Sasol slumped 2.81%.
The higher-than-expected US consumer inflation print of 6.2% vs 5.8% expected year-on-year, also wreaked havoc with the rand as it put the dollar on the front foot. The unit, which was trading 1.70% weaker on the day at R15.26 shortly after the inflation release, has weakened even further to last change hands at R15.34 against the US currency.
“A somewhat volatile day for the rand today, as the unit opened at R15.08 this morning and stayed within tight ranges for most of the day up until the release of the US CPI. With the number being higher than expected, we did see a run out of the rand and into more ‘safe haven’ assets like gold and the US dollar,” comments TreasuryONE.
The forex trading house adds: “A further reason for the rand being on the back foot today is that there should be a lot of position squaring in the US today with the US out of the markets for the next couple of days.”
TreasuryONE’s Andre Cilliers, who discusses interest rates and emerging market currencies in a video interview with Biznews today, says the unit’s next focus is the mini budget speech tomorrow.
Other gainers included Vodacom, adding 2.87% after the mobile operator said it is buying Remgro-backed Vumatel and 30% of Dark Fibre Africa in a deal as well as a 55% stake in Vodafone Egypt in a deal worth $2.738bn (R41.3bn). Remgo gained 0.42%.
Bargain-hunters pushed Telkom 2.16% higher after the telephony group’s 12.14% drubbing in the previous session.
Precious and green metals miner Sibanye-Stillwater soared 5.68% after saying it has priced an upsized $1.2-billion senior notes offering.
Naspers lost 0.13% following Tencent posting slower-than-expected revenue growth after China’s sweeping tech crackdown took a toll on businesses like gaming and advertising. Prosus, in which Naspers has 29% exposure to the CHinese tech giant, gained 0.19%.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports Bitcoin also hit another record high and is flirting with $69,000 for the first time after inflation data bolstered the argument that the cryptocurrency is a hedge against rising cost pressures.
Indicators as at 17:00
Currencies
USDZAR 15.2400
EURUSD 1.1560
EURZAR 17.6117
GBPUSD 1.3520
GBPZAR 20.5977
AUDZAR 11.2450
CADZAR 12.2836
CNYZAR 2.3853
ZARJPY 7.4497
CHFZAR 16.6867
USDAOA 596.80
Bonds and equities
R186 8.03%
US 10 Year 1.50%
JSE 0.08%
FTSE 0.65%
S&P 500 -0.38%
Commodities
Gold $1 862.01
Plat $1 082.01
Plad $2 043.38
Rhod $14 340.00
Irid $4 490.00
Ruth $608.00
Copp $9 790.50
Brent $84.99
Iron Ore 62.5% $91.98
Coal API4 $144.00
Gold ZAR R28 355.99
Plat ZAR R16 477.61
