The JSE Securities Exchange South Africa (JSE) edged down on Wednesday due to a firm rand against the United States dollar, with trade on the bourse quiet and the top five counters accounting for about a third of value traded.
The all share index closed 0,73% down, resources fell 1,36% and the gold mining index inched down 0,49%.
Industrials and financials lost 0,30% and 0,36% respectively while the platinum mining index fell 0,11%.
The only major index to finish in the black was the banks index, which ended up 0,89%.
The rand was quoted at R6,04 per US dollar from R6,09 when the JSE closed on Tuesday, while gold was quoted at US$403,55 a troy ounce from $402,38/oz at the JSE’s last close.
Meanwhile, the stronger rand in late afternoon trade pushed South African near-dated futures to close in negative territory.
By 17.35pm, near-dated all share index futures (Alsis) had surrendered 60 points or 0,64%, finishing at 9,280, while the near-dated industrial index futures did not trade on the day.
“The stronger rand in late afternoon trade weighed heavily on the market today. We had pretty average volumes on the day,” a derivatives trader said.
The rand rallied in late afternoon trade on Wednesday as the dollar came under a bit of pressure following worse than expected US retail sales figures for June.
When the local futures market closed, the rand was quoted at R6,04 per dollar from R6,09 when the JSE closed on Tuesday, while gold was quoted at US$403,90 a troy ounce from $402,38/oz at the JSE’s last close.
A Safex official said 22,686 Alsis traded on Wednesday from 22,924 on Tuesday, while zero Indis changed hands on the day, unchanged from Tuesday.
During the session, the Alsis ranged between 9,266 and 9,374.– I-Net Bridge