Rand hedges squeeze the all share

The JSE ended slightly weaker on Wednesday as the stronger local currency put pressure on large rand hedge stocks. The rand settled into a firmer range as the dollar remained under pressure on uncertainty about how Donald Trump’s term as US president will play out.

Platinum shares failed to keep up their strength of the past few days as the metal’s price fell. The index firmed 4.9% on Monday and 5.25% on Tuesday. Gold shares also retreated despite a weaker dollar against the euro.

The all share closed 0.17% lower at 53,250.80 points and the blue chip top 40 dropped 0.21%. The gold index shed 4.43%, platinums 1.50% and resources 1.39%. General retailers gained 1.29%, banks 0.81%, financials 0.56% and property 0.26%.

At 5pm, the gold price was 1.11% lower at $1,195/oz, while platinum was at $978, down 1.38%. Brent crude had shed 0.67% to $54.85 a barrel.

The Dow finally broke through the 20,000-point level in morning trade while at the JSE’s close the FTSE 100 was up 0.33%, the Paris CAC 40 1.07% and Germany’s DAX 1.74%.

Rand hedge British American Tobacco rose 1.56% to R810.40 and Richemont 1.51% to R104.14.

After gaining more than 3% in early trade, Anglo American closed flat at R229.92 despite De Beers reporting its best diamond sale in at least a year.

Industrial group Imperial Holdings gained 1.07% to R176. It reported a decline of 13%-20% in headline earnings a share for the six months to December 2016.

Sibanye Gold fell 7.76% to R28.18 and Harmony 4.97% to R31.95.

After trading 7.8% higher in the morning, Impala Platinum closed 2.73% lower at R53.50. Lonmin lost 2.59% to R30.10.

At 6.52pm, the rand was R13.2629 to the dollar from Tuesday’s R13.38. The benchmark R186 bond was last bid at 8.75%, from 8.67% previously.

Futures were little changed, with the near-dated top-40 Alsi futures index ending 0.04% lower at 46,834 points, with 33,224 contracts traded from Tuesday’s 23,330.