JSE follows Asia and Europe down

The JSE closed lower on Friday as the market followed weaker Asian and European markets.

Platinum and property led the declining stocks and banks made a late recovery at the close on a rebound from Capitec.

A positive opening on the Dow, after another 4% drop on Thursday, failed to inspire confidence on the local bourse. The Dow dropped more than 4% on two days in the week.

The JSE was 1.29% off at 55,902.60 points, the lowest level in four months, while the top 40 dropped 1.3%. The platinum index shed 2.94%, property 1.73%, food and drug retailers 1.49%, industrials 1.39% and financials 1.28%.

Rand hedge British American Tobacco fell 2.21% to R748.07, Anheuser-Busch InBev 2.13% to R1,255.91, and Richemont 1.32% to end the day at R108.

Brait fell 5.14% to R36.52 and PSG 2.62% to R212.80.

Liberty Holdings lost 7.16% to R124 and Old Mutual 3.55% to R38.

Steinhoff Africa Retail fell 7.24% to close at R20.13, having reported flat revenue growth for its quarter to endDecember.

Property group Resilient closed 2.2% lower at R108.01. It said it had been made aware of a negative report on the group and advised caution. Naspers gave up 1.8% to R2,971. Analysts said there remained a lot of volatility and nervousness in the markets, and they would probably exhibit choppy trading patterns until a clearer picture emerged. The recent weaknesses might entice some investors to test the waters again, as fundamental economic data in the US and eurozone remained strong.

The rand was at R12.0817 to the dollar from R12.1675 on optimism that a deal on the exit of President Jacob Zuma might become reality.

Bond yields remained slightly weaker despite a firmer rand, with the R186 bid at 8.44% from 8.42%. The US 10-year treasury was last seen at 2.833% from 2.8257%.

Investors were on edge after a sharp rise in government bond yields in developed markets earlier in the week, which fanned speculation of interest rate hikes, analysts said.

The top 40 Alsi futures index dropped 1.52% to 49,240 points. The number of contracts traded was 32,195 from Thursday’s 27‚168.