The JSE traded weaker on Thursday along with its global peers as the feverish US inflation numbers placed pressure on equities and reinforced the need for aggressive monetary-policy tightening. The rand also slipped against the greenback.
The rand opened around R16.18/$ and slipped further when it hit the R16.25/$ mark on the back of sustained dollar strength.
“We have seen an exciting move in the late afternoon with the rand back at R16.10/$ even with the euro trading below 1.04/$. Other emerging markets are also grinding their way back to stronger levels with the risk-off sentiment winding down,” comments forex trading house TreasuryONE.
On the commodity front, there was a sea of red across the board this afternoon with gold losing 0.5%, platinum traded 4% weaker while palladium was down 7% for the day at one stage.
Gold is currently at $1,835, platinum is at $951, and palladium is trading at $1,927. Brent Crude is still hovering in the upper end of the $100 to $113 range, quoted at $108 a barrel at the moment. Copper traded as low as $8,970 at a stage but has bounced back to read $9,050.
The local bourse gave up 1.70% with the All Share Index closing on 67,251 points while the Top 40 lost 1.85% to enter Friday at 60,641 points.
Sappi (3.81%) was one of the top five movers on Tuesday as the paper manufacturer said it slashed its debt and recovered from earlier losses as it released its second-quarter results on Thursday.
Sappi said its debt had decreased from $2 billion in the second quarter of 2021 to $1.7 billion in 2022 while the group also recovered from a $23 million loss in 2021 to a profit of $188 million this year.
The group’s better performance comes against the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the floods in KwaZulu-Natal.
“We anticipate that there will be no material impact on EBITDA for the year. However, after external insurance proceeds, the estimated net loss of approximately US$28 million will be reflected as a special item expense in the third quarter,” said Sappi.
Manufacturing peers Mondi (-2.02), Nampak (-4.56%) and Mpact (-0.22%) didn’t follow Sappi’s performance and all closed the day down.
