WEDNESDAY, 6.00PM
SHARES on the Johannesburg ended Thursday slightly firmer, with gold shares benefiting from the rand’s continued woes and industrials closing higher, but off the day’s highs because of profit taking.
Big news of the day was the rand hitting its lowest point ever against the dollar before recovering in later trade after Reserve Bank intervention.
As the rand plummeted to its worst ever level against the almighty dollar, R4,7890, industrial stocks gave up some of their early gains. Later the rand managed to gain much of its lost ground but industrials did not follow. The rand ended the normal session at R4,7465 compared to Wednesday’s close of R4,7455.
At the close the all gold index had gained 14 points to 1 027,6, the industrial index had climbed 18,1 points to 9 164,3, and the all share index was pushed up 25,3 points to 7463,1.
Bonds ended the day stronger after a volatile day’s trade. Shortly before the close, the government R150 long bond was four basis points stronger at a yield of 14,19%. The range was 14,33% to 14,14% during the morning session.
WEDNESDAY, 11.00AM
The rand weakened dramatically on Wednesday, shedding 5c against the dollar and hitting its lowest level so far this year as the Reserve Bank failed to intervene in the currency market amid strong demand for dollars.
The local currency closed at R4,7495, equalling its lowest levels during the currency turbulence of late last year.
Dealers were not very concerned at the rand’s latest losses against the dollar as it continued to perform reasonably against European currencies. However, the rand’s unstable postition will mitigate against an early decreas in interest rates.
The rand’s woes rubbed off on the bond market, with the benchmark government R150 long bond losing 6,5 basis points on the day, closing at a 14,225% yield.
Industrial stocks on the JSE, however, followed Wall Street’s gains into firmer territory. Ignoring the bond and currency markets, the industrial index put on 60 points to close at 9 146. Financial stocks continued an earlier turnaround to gain 67 points to 10 272, pushing the all share index up 41 points to 7 437.