MARKET WRAP: JSE pushes higher as miners jump on weaker rand

The JSE pushed higher on Monday, with most miners benefiting from a weaker rand.

The local currency fell sharply over the weekend, extending losses on Monday.

Global equity markets and risk assets have been under pressure since last week, when fear of a financial crisis in Turkey began to rattle markets. This eased somewhat on Monday, although a cautious tone remains.

Rand hedges were up on the day, and diversified miners performed well. Gold and platinum miners were lower, due to sharp falls in precious metal prices. Banks and retailers fell sharply, but pared losses as the rand recovered somewhat shortly before the JSE closed.

The all share gained 0.32% to 57,885.3 points and the top 40 0.47%. Resources gained 1.2% and food and drug retailers 0.55%. Platinums lost 2.1% and banks 1.58%.

Analysts expect the rand to recover as the week progresses, barring any further spikes in risk.

“It is completely overdone and I have no doubt in my mind that come the end of the week we will be wishing we had sold every last dollar at our disposal,” said Standard Bank currency dealer Warrick Butler.

Diversified miner Anglo American gained 3.43% to R307.50, BHP 2.03% to R309.69 and Glencore 1.74% to R58.50.

Rand hedge AB InBev firmed 1.38% to R1,380, British American Tobacco 1.62% to R755.85 and Richemont 1.13% to R124.

FirstRand slipped 3.52% to R63.05.

Naspers added 0.99% R3,405.

Sappi slumped 9.51% to R91.30, after earlier reporting a fall in its net profit for the third quarter to end-June.

Mondi Ltd gained 0.13% to R390.39, an all-time high.

Curro fell 1.36% to R31.23, ahead of its results for the six months to end-June, due on Tuesday. The company said in September it expected headline earnings per share for the period to rise by between 19% and 26%.

At 5.30pm the Dow was flat at 25,330.21 points, while in Europe, the CAC 40 was up 0.19%, while the DAX 30 was down 0.29% and the FTSE 100 0.23%.

At the same time, platinum had slumped 2.92% to $805.12/oz and gold 1.23% to $1,196.33. Brent crude was 0.38% lower at $72.65 a barrel.

The top 40 Alsi futures index gained 0.33% to 51,587 points. The number of contracts traded was 18,368 from Friday’s 22,287.