Industrials suffer in wary market

The JSE closed lower on Friday as Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president drew nearer, with the dollar largely flat and US Treasuries stabilising at somewhat weaker levels.

Markets were characterised by cautious trade for most of the week due to the lack of transparency on the policies of the Trump administration.

Volume on the JSE was on the low side, at about R14bn, with broad-based losses. Industrials fared worst.

The all share closed 0.7% lower at 52,532.30 points, with the blue-chip top 40 down by a similar margin. Food and drug retailers shed 2.01% and general retailers 0.95%. Industrials relinquished 0.76%, platinums 0.65% and the gold index 0.63%. The all share ended the week 0.5% weaker but is still up 3.71% in 2017.

Trump’s inauguration speech would give a sense of his priorities in his first few months as president, which could set the tone for the markets, said Oanda analyst Craig Erlam.

Anglo American lost 1.61% to R216.51 and Kumba Iron Ore plummeted 6.56% to R154.01.

Gold Fields shed 1.56% to R45.58 but Sibanye Gold ended the day 0.74% higher at R27.25.

Barclays Africa fared worst in its sector, shedding 1.21% to R163, while Nedbank dropped 1.08% to R233.73.

Among financials, Discovery lost 1.51% to R113.86 and MMI Holdings 1.83% to R25.20.

Shoprite led the losses in the retail sector, shedding 3.18% to R173.80. Truworths dropped 2.03% to R80.50 and Massmart 0.88% to R129.13. Steinhoff closed 2.50% lower at R70.51.

Capital & Counties lost 1.89% to R45.22 and Intu Properties fell 1.73% to end at R45.57.

The rand was a little weaker in the early evening, last trading at R13.5924 to the dollar from R13.5561 previously.

Bonds were little moved, with the benchmark R186 last bid at 8.73% from Thursday’s 8.71%.

Futures followed the JSE, with the near-dated top 40 Alsi futures index losing 0.44% to 46,240 points, with 20,314 contracts traded from 27,057 on Thursday.