The JSE was flat at 70,554.68 points, with investors fretting over another Covid strain that could potentially cause a severe fourth wave that could spread globally. The discovery, which comes as South Africa sees an uptick in case numbers and as several European countries battle a surge in Covid-19 infections, has stoked fears of a renewed local lockdown that could threaten economic growth over the busy festive season. South Africa is currently on lockdown level 1.
The mall rush expected tomorrow for Black Friday specials could potentially also spark a resurgence in Covid infections.
This despite, retail and consumer goods stocks were all up, with Mr Price, Pepkor, Marshall Monteagle and Steinhoff all adding almost 4%, followed by gains in Shoprite (+2.10%), Foschini (+2.58%), Cashbuild (1.40%) and PPC (+1.18%). Mr Price earlier increased its interim dividend by more than a third despite suffering an estimated R320m in lost sales during the civil unrest in July.
Industrial heavyweight Barloworld jumped 4.76% as investors seek to benefit from the special dividend of R11.50 a share it declared earlier this week.
Shares in Vivo Energy spurted more than 20% after commodities trader Vitol made a $2.3bn buyout offer for the British distributor of Shell- and Engen-branded fuels in Africa.
Growth jitters hit mining stocks, with Kumba Iron Ore (-4.51%) leading the losses. ARM dipped 4.24%, Harmony 3.25% and South32 2.85%. South32 told shareholders that it is going ahead with the acquisition of a 45% interest in the South Gorda copper mine in Chile, after project partner KGHM Polska Miedz failed to exercise its pre-emptive rights to increase its shareholding in the project.
Other notable losers Naspers (-0.91%) and Prosus (-0.13%) despite a 1.19% gain in Chinese tech giant Tencent, in which the pair has a 29% exposure.
On the forex front, the rand traded in a narrow range between R15.80 and R15.90 on a stable day across most currencies as the dollar markets are closed for the Thanksgiving holidays. Local PPI for October came out at 8.1% YoY, much in line with the expected 8.0%.
“Movement on the rand should remain relatively muted overnight and should pick up tomorrow when traders return after the public holiday for the US,” says TreasuryONE.
In the commodities market, metals were mostly flat, bar platinum, which saw it bouncing back 1.5% by local market close. Gold is still below $1,800, while palladium is at $1,860. Brent Crude is holding steady above $82 a barrel.
Indicators as at 17:00
Currencies
USDZAR 15.8707
EURUSD 1.1215
EURZAR 17.7936
GBPUSD 1.3309
GBPZAR 21.1159
AUDZAR 11.3949
CADZAR 12.5343
CNYZAR 2.4838
ZARJPY 7.2666
CHFZAR 16.9598
USDAOA 593.32
Bonds and equities
R186 8.17%
US 10 Year 1.64%
JSE -0.18%
FTSE 0.13%
Commodities
Gold $1 790.69
Plat $995.01
Plad $1 866.21
Rhod $13 740.00
Irid $4 290.00
Ruth $588.00
Copp $9 931.65
Brent $82.14
Iron Ore 62.5% $94.33
Coal API4 $138.00
Gold ZAR R28 404.46
Plat ZAR R15 783.15
