JSE firmer as rand recover

Markets
JOHANNESBURG — The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) closed higher on Friday as the stronger rand boosted sentiment across the board.

JOHANNESBURG — The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) closed higher on Friday as the stronger rand boosted sentiment across the board.

The rand broke convincingly through R11 to the dollar‚ trading at R10,85 in the late afternoon as emerging markets shrugged off negative news from Turkey. Good growth figures from Europe were supportive of the euro‚ with the dollar weakening as a result. A stronger euro is usually supportive of the JSE.

Resource‚ platinum and gold shares were stronger on higher commodity prices.

At 5pm the JSE closed 0,82% up at 46 628,74 points‚ with the blue-chip top 40 index firming 0,87%.

All the indices were higher‚ led by the gold index rising 5,28%. Platinum was up 2,05% and resources by 1,49%. Banks were 1,52% stronger and financials added 0,56%. At 5:20pm the Dow Jones industrial average was up 0,24%‚ while at the same time the Paris CAC40 had gained 0,47% and the German Dax was 0,56% higher.

Afrifocus Securities portfolio manager Ferdi Heyneke said some shares made pretty good moves for the day‚ with BHP Billiton and Naspers closing at new highs. “The market held steady‚ with dollar weakness and commodity strength the main drivers.”

— BD Live