Double whammy knocks miners

The JSE closed lower on Monday, with a lethal cocktail of a stronger rand and weaker commodity prices punishing mining stocks, especially platinums.

Gold and other resources stocks also lost ground. Retailers, however, ended the day positively.

The rand traded as high as R12.93/$ from Friday’s R12.9901/$. At 5.50pm the rand was at R12.9842/$.

“Resources were under pressure for most of the session, but the longerterm prospects still look good for the sector,” said Petri Redelinghuys, an analyst at Herenya Capital Advisors.

The all share closed 0.41% lower at 51,498.10 and the blue-chip Top40 lost 0.47%. Platinums retreated 3.25% and resources ended the day 1.77% lower. The gold index lost 0.68%. Food and drug retailers gained 0.61%. Banks added 0.24%, but financials closed 0.04% softer.

The Dow Jones industrial average was 0.23% lower at the JSE’s close with European markets also weaker. The FTSE 100 lost 0.43% in London, the CAC 40 fell 0.45% in Paris and the DAX slid 0.52% in Frankfurt.

Anglo American ended 3.21% lower at R196.84, the lowest since January 10. Glencore lost 3.31% to R52.24.

Kumba Iron Ore fell 4.3% to R196.89. Exxaro shed 1.81% to R111.89.

Among gold stocks, Sibanye gained 0.91% to R25.39, but AngloGold Ashanti shed 1.26% to R135.08.

Lonmin was the main casualty among platinum stocks, closing 8.5% lower at R16.14. Northam Platinum shed 4.02% to R52.75. Anglo American Platinum closed 3.57% off at R290.44.

Among banks, Barclays Africa added 0.65% to R154.50, but Nedbank dropped 0.92% to R258.

Steinhoff slid 1.56% to R64.53, a three-month low. MTN shed 2.89% to R120.68 amid reports that it might be a takeover target.

Bonds firmed in line with the rand, with the benchmark R186 bid at 8.68%, from 8.715% on Friday.

At 5.47pm, the near-dated top-40 Alsi futures index was 0.63% lower at 44,251 points, with 23,782 contracts traded from Friday’s 28,716.