The JSE continued up today following the rise of several Asian markets after Russia pledged to wind down military activity in Ukraine. However, the Kremlin today announced they saw no breakthroughs in talks and US stocks fell somewhat in the opening. The US drop also followed expectations of a further strengthening of the US economy, signaling interest rate hikes are on the way.
The dull openings of the NYSE and Nasdaq pushed the JSE back somewhat in the afternoon, but the All Share Index eventually closed up 0.87 percent at 75425.31.
The rise of the JSE came in spite of several economists worrying that the South African unemployment rates might reach even higher levels than the record high figure of 35.3% presented yesterday. According to Nedbank the pace of recovery of the SA economy is “too slow to translate into sustainable employment creation” and The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) is afraid it is approaching even higher levels.
On the company side, today’s winners were in the finance sector. African Equity Empowerment Inv was up 15,38 percent, while micro finance business African Dawn Cap was up 15 percent. In a completely different sector, Famous Brands Ltd closed up 1,43 percent after announcing it has bought a 51% stake in the mostly vegan Lexi’s Healthy Eatery, following a strategic plan to attract younger adults that are more cautious about what they eat.
Losers on the JSE were Randgold Exploration, a mining company, and fashion group Rex Trueform, down, 15,54 and 15,41 percent respectively.
On the currency side, the positive noise from peace talks affected the Rand positively yesterday and it continued to strengthen today. The Rand has rallied hard the past week and according to TreasuryOne it will most likely “continue to consolidate to weaker levels”.
Commodities are more heavily affected by the uncertainty of the Russo-Ukraine war and most of them traded in the green today. Gold was up 0.95 percent this afternoon, while Platinum and Palladium were up 1.71 percent and 4.16 percent respectively. Both Brent Crude and WTI were up as well.
