The JSE closed in the red on a half-day of trade before a
four-day Christmas break. The all share index slipped 0.87% to
49,400.60 points in thin trade and there were losses in all major
indices.
The 0.12% drop in the Dow Jones industrial average overnight depressed Asian markets, which have retreated for most of the past week. The Hang Seng closed 0.28% down and the Shanghai composite was nearly 1% off. Tokyo did not trade because of a public holiday.
In Europe, the UK’s FTSE 100 was 0.32% stronger, outpacing marginal increases in the DAX 30 and the CAC 40. Deutsche Bank was fined $7.2bn by the US department of justice for misselling mortgage-backed securities, but its shares were positive because this was half what was expected. Credit Suisse was fined $5.3bn.
Italian markets were positive on news of a government bailout for Monte dei Paschi, after a private funding attempt failed.
The rand strengthened against a weaker dollar to R14.01/$ from R14.0348 at Thursday’s close. It also strengthened to R14.6397 to the euro from R14.6604, and to R17.1813 to the pound, from a previous R17.2522. The pound moved only marginally stronger on an upgrade to UK third-quarter economic growth to 0.6% quarter on quarter, from a previous 0.5%.
Brent crude oil was off 0.33% at $54.61 a barrel while spot gold lifted 0.26% to $1,131.08 an ounce and platinum edged down 0.08% to $907.13/oz.
In Metals Focus’s latest Precious Metals Weekly, it said that despite recent pressure on the gold price from US interest-rate increases, it still expected that real US interest rates would remain negative well into 2018 as core inflation was 1.74% and likely to continue rising. Metals Focus doubted whether Donald Trump’s policies could boost the US economy and it remained concerned about US debt levels. There were also plenty of other global risks.
"Although the pressure on gold is likely to continue during early 2017, we believe that investor interest in the yellow metal will eventually recover, fuelling a new price recovery," it said.
Although the overall trend on the JSE was negative, losses were generally small.
BHP Billiton, which has been sinking steadily since mid-month on weaker iron ore and copper prices, dropped another 2.23% to R216.49, while AngloGold Ashanti, which has also been depressed by directionless gold prices, fell 1.8% to R135.90. Anglo American was off 0.36% to R194.76.
Rockwell Diamonds shares were unchanged at 43c after it announced the disposal of its Saxendrift mine for R45m and other moves to strengthen its balance sheet.
Healthcare shares were all lower. Discovery gave up 0.43% to R112.50, Mediclinic International 0.51% to R129.57 and Aspen Pharmacare 0.63% to R271.80.
Banks were mixed. Nedbank added 0.56% to R232.21 and Barclays Africa 0.15% to R164.50 but Investec gave up 1.09% to R89.23 and Standard Bank 0.31% to R149.02.
Industrial shares were also mixed. Murray and Roberts rose 1.86% to R11.50 and Hudaco 1.54% to R111.25, but Wilson Bayly shed 1.12% to R151.59 and Raubex fell 1.95% to R23.63.
The 0.12% drop in the Dow Jones industrial average overnight depressed Asian markets, which have retreated for most of the past week. The Hang Seng closed 0.28% down and the Shanghai composite was nearly 1% off. Tokyo did not trade because of a public holiday.
In Europe, the UK’s FTSE 100 was 0.32% stronger, outpacing marginal increases in the DAX 30 and the CAC 40. Deutsche Bank was fined $7.2bn by the US department of justice for misselling mortgage-backed securities, but its shares were positive because this was half what was expected. Credit Suisse was fined $5.3bn.
Italian markets were positive on news of a government bailout for Monte dei Paschi, after a private funding attempt failed.
The rand strengthened against a weaker dollar to R14.01/$ from R14.0348 at Thursday’s close. It also strengthened to R14.6397 to the euro from R14.6604, and to R17.1813 to the pound, from a previous R17.2522. The pound moved only marginally stronger on an upgrade to UK third-quarter economic growth to 0.6% quarter on quarter, from a previous 0.5%.
Brent crude oil was off 0.33% at $54.61 a barrel while spot gold lifted 0.26% to $1,131.08 an ounce and platinum edged down 0.08% to $907.13/oz.
In Metals Focus’s latest Precious Metals Weekly, it said that despite recent pressure on the gold price from US interest-rate increases, it still expected that real US interest rates would remain negative well into 2018 as core inflation was 1.74% and likely to continue rising. Metals Focus doubted whether Donald Trump’s policies could boost the US economy and it remained concerned about US debt levels. There were also plenty of other global risks.
"Although the pressure on gold is likely to continue during early 2017, we believe that investor interest in the yellow metal will eventually recover, fuelling a new price recovery," it said.
Although the overall trend on the JSE was negative, losses were generally small.
BHP Billiton, which has been sinking steadily since mid-month on weaker iron ore and copper prices, dropped another 2.23% to R216.49, while AngloGold Ashanti, which has also been depressed by directionless gold prices, fell 1.8% to R135.90. Anglo American was off 0.36% to R194.76.
Rockwell Diamonds shares were unchanged at 43c after it announced the disposal of its Saxendrift mine for R45m and other moves to strengthen its balance sheet.
Healthcare shares were all lower. Discovery gave up 0.43% to R112.50, Mediclinic International 0.51% to R129.57 and Aspen Pharmacare 0.63% to R271.80.
Banks were mixed. Nedbank added 0.56% to R232.21 and Barclays Africa 0.15% to R164.50 but Investec gave up 1.09% to R89.23 and Standard Bank 0.31% to R149.02.
Industrial shares were also mixed. Murray and Roberts rose 1.86% to R11.50 and Hudaco 1.54% to R111.25, but Wilson Bayly shed 1.12% to R151.59 and Raubex fell 1.95% to R23.63.
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