Sasol and gold miners lead JSE higher amid Middle East tension

The JSE was in positive territory on Monday morning while global markets slipped after attacks on Saudi Arabia oil facilities at the weekend dampened risk sentiment.  

An attack on state-owned oil producer Saudi Aramco’s facilities wiped out more than half of the country’s oil output, about 5% of global oil supply. Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the attacks, while the US has blamed Iran.

“The Saudi incident increased tension between the US and Iran, as the US accused Iran of the drone strikes on Aramco. Iran refused. But regardless of who is responsible for these attacks, the US accusations on Iran can only wash away the hopes for improved diplomatic relations between the two countries,” London Capital Group senior market analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya said.

Earlier, the Shanghai Composite was flat and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.83% while Japan’s Nikkei 225 was closed for Respect for the Aged Day. In Europe, the FTSE 100 lost 0.19%, France’s CAC 40 0.59% and Germany’s DAX 0.57%.

At 10.45am, the JSE all share was up 0.32% to 57,306.70 points and the top 40 had added 0.23%. Gold miners were up 2.71% and banks 0.56%. 

Rhodes Food Group said on Monday that its turnover grew 13.4% in the 10 months to end-July. Its share price was unchanged R16.98.

Sasol jumped 5.91% to R295, benefiting from the surge in global oil prices due to the Saudi oil attacks.

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