Rand woes continue, but good day for JSE stocks
THE RAND’S woes continued yesterday, with the domestic currency trading within a R12.68 to R12.99 range to the dollar, still reeling from the detrimental economic data released earlier this week.
TreasuryONE senior currency dealer Andre Botha said the rand was staring down the barrel and was set to break above the R12.90 level yesterday.
“The rally was halted by a stronger euro as news emanating from the Eurozone emerged that the European Central Bank was looking at tapering their quantitative easing at the next meeting. The risk that the lousy gross domestic product number brings forth is that every release from now on will be combed over and has the potential to be market moving,” said Botha.
At 5pm the rand was 21c weaker than Wednesday’s same time bid at R12.92 to the greenback. Against the pound sterling, the rand was 26c weaker at R17.33, and to the euro, the domestic currency gave up 30c to R15.28.
Corporate treasury manager at Peregrine Treasury Solutions Bianca Botes noted that the euro had reached a 10-day high on Wednesday, after comments from the ECB that by end of this year it might end its stimulatory bond buying.
“Thursdays are known for forex market volatility caused by the jobless claims from the US later in the afternoon,” she said.
Meanwhile, JSE stocks had a fairly good day, with the blue chip top 40 index increasing 0.58% to 52037.69 points, while the broader all share index ticked up 0.53% to 58 391.64 points.
The biggest gainers among bourse heavyweights were Kumba Iron Ore, which increased 5.7% to R317, followed by Sasol, which was 2.5% higher at R492.
Mondi grew 2.35% to R365.47, while Investec ticked up 1.93% to R98.78 and BHP Billiton scored 1.68% growth to close at R306.35.
Leading losses among large caps was Sanlam, which dipped 3.71% to R72.70, followed by Discovery, 2.75% lower at R147.34. Mediclinic International dropped 2.71% to R96.91, while Barclays Africa Group fell 1.5% to R162.51 and Standard Bank gave up 1.25% to end at R206.40.