The JSE ended flat as increases in heavyweight industrial stocks balanced out losses in mining stocks.
Automotive giant Motus surged 7.15% and ecommerce and internet giant Naspers gained 2.91%.
A slide in PGM prices (platinum and palladium both dipped 1% to &992 and $2,435 respectively) and a drop in the gold price to $1,785/oz weighed on mining stocks, with Royal Bafokeng losing 8.95%, Gold Fields 4.88%, DRD Gold 4.32% and AngloGold 4.09%.
Sasol (-0.67%) failed to cash in on the higher oil price. Brent Crude was last trading at $71.50 a barrel.
Bank stocks were mixed, with Absa (+1.77%) and Standard Bank (+0.73%) gaining and Capitec (-0.94%) and Nedbank (-0.30%) losing.
Redefine weakened 1.87% after the property group said it will lose an estimated R125m from rental relief and deferrals for the 2021 financial year due to the impact of the coronavirus but may pay an annual dividend.
Pharmacy group Dis-Chem lost 3.96% its founder and outgoing CEO Ivan Saltzman said he plans to sell 7.5% of his shares. The group named
Rui Morais as the new CEO.
On the currency front the rand dipped below the R15-mark to the US dollar in relative quiet trade ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s keynote address at the Jackson Hole symposium on Friday. “The rand stayed in a very tight R14.90/R15.00 range for the day after starting the day above the R15-mark. We expect the sideways movement to continue for the next couple of days with the risk event of Friday,” comments TreasuryONE.
Indicators as at 17:00
Currencies
USDZAR 14.9650
EURUSD 1.1749
EURZAR 17.5771
GBPUSD 1.3729
GBPZAR 20.5393
AUDZAR 10.8643
CADZAR 11.8443
CNYZAR 2.3091
ZARJPY 7.3563
CHFZAR 16.3538
USDAOA 634.54
Equities and bonds
R186 7.32%
US 10 Year 1.34%
JSE 0.04%
FTSE 0.27%
S&P 500 0.14%
Commodities
Gold $1 783.50
Plat $991.48
Plad $2 433.74
Rhod $17 090.00
Irid $5 190.00
Ruth $723.00
Copp $9 378.50
Brent $71.31
Iron Ore 62.5% $160.07
Coal API4 $141.00
Gold ZAR R26 677.59
Plat ZAR R14 830.56
Indicators brought to you by TreasuryONE
