The JSE firmed on Thursday as traders evaluated the way forward for policy tightening. Markets have been nervous after a US Federal Reserve Official indicated the central bank may not bring its rate hiking cycle to a halt this year.
But there is some relief that the Fed won’t pursue as aggressive rate hiking as had been indicated earlier in the year after the recent release of the latest Fed minutes.
The local bourse added a tiny 0.24% with the All Share Index closing at 71,021.23 points. Meanwhile, the top 40 added 0.29% to cease trade at 64,420.86 points.
In the currency markets, it was a quiet day globally with the British markets closed due to the jubilee celebrations.
“The Rand traded in a narrow range of roughly six cents and is currently testing to break below R15.50/$ with the US markets coming into play. Other EM’s have been on the front foot over the past few trading sessions as the (US) Dollar remains range-bound against its peers,” comments forex trading house TreasuryONE.
It was a good day across the sector on the commodity front, with gold, platinum, and palladium all trading in the green.
Gold is currently 1.1% higher for the day while platinum is back above the $1,000 level and palladium is hovering around the $2,015 mark. Brent crude is relatively flat for the day, currently trading at $116, still off this week’s high of $123 a barrel.
In company news, Johan Rupert’s luxury goods holding company Richemont (2.08%) said in a trading update that the company’s 2022 Annual Report has been released online.
The luxury goods owner said the report contains the information that was first released in an announcement in May 2022 where the company said it had a 46% increase in sales for the year to end-March.
But Bloomberg reported that the results were lower than expected, which caused Richemont’s shares to slump 10% at the time.
In other news, commercial and warehouse building developer Heartwood Properties declared its first dividend of 1.52 cents, which amounts to an R2 million pay-out, although profit fell by more than a third.
Heartwood Properties was listed on the Cape Town Stock Exchange in March 2018 and is now valued at R131 million with a portfolio of eight properties valued at R279 million.
