Market Wrap: Rand fights back after string of losses, JSE closes

The beleaguered Rand finally clawed back some of its losses today after nine consecutive days of weakness. The local unit was trading at R15.72/$ at one point and is currently trading at R15.81/$.

“The next couple of trading sessions will establish whether this move was more a case of position squaring before the long weekend and/or if this is a bit of a correction after the currency ran hard the past two weeks,” comments TreasuryONE.

The Rand has found a colleague in the Brazilian Real with the two currencies almost mirror images of one another.

“It is also interesting to note that the Real was one of the worst-performing currencies, along with the Rand, and with both pulling back today, we could have a scenario where some consolidation is ahead,” says TreasuryONE.

It was a good day on the commodity front with all posting gains.

“Palladium was again the star today, with the commodity up more than 2% on the day; however, platinum is up by 1.9% today. Gold is trading at $1,911, platinum at $936, and palladium at $2,283 per ounce. Brent crude is also edging higher at $110.05 per barrel, up by 2.5% today,” comments TreasuryONE.

JSE heavyweights Naspers (7.94%) and Prosus (8.45%) rallied on Friday on the back of hopes that the Chinese tech crackdown would ease. By mid-morning Prosus had surged 10% while Naspers had gained more than 9% after Tencent, in which the pair have a large shareholding, gained 11%.

China’s embattled tech sector received some good news on Friday after news reports said a meeting by the government’s decision-making body concluded with officials saying it was “necessary to promote the healthy development of the platform economy” and “complete its rectification”.

Tech behemoth Alibaba climbed nearly 16% on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange

The local bourse built on yesterday’s gains by adding 1.26% to see the All Share Index close at 72,438 points with the Top 40 adding 1.43%.

The Public Investment Corporation (PIC) said it had increased its stake in City Lodge (xxx) to a little over 10%. The hotel group’s share price has increased by 9% over the past year.

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