JSE slides ahead of rates decision

After a good start to the day the JSE reversed earlier gains to close lower on Tuesday, with diversified miners and rand hedges faring well, while precious metal miners and banks were under the most pressure.

Volumes on the local bourse were low, at R15bn versus the daily average of R20bn, suggesting a lack of market direction ahead of Wednesday’s Reserve Bank announcement on interest rates.

Major global exchanges rebounded on Tuesday, as investors reconsidered the possibility of a trade war after news of easing tension between the US and China.

Locally, many stocks have been supported by ratings agency Moody’s revision of SA’s outlook from negative to stable on Friday. On Tuesday, S&P Global Ratings revised SA’s growth outlook upwards.

Murray & Roberts, which rose 45% on Monday on news that it had received an offer from Aton, was off 4.13% to R13.45. Earlier, the board said it would recommend that shareholders reject the offer.

The JSE closed 0.22% lower at 56‚050.80 points and the top 40 lost 0.3%. Banks lost 1.57%‚ the platinum index 1.17%‚ the gold index 1.05%‚ financials 0.67%‚ property 0.52% and food and drug retailers 0.45%. Resources climbed 0.54%.

Sasol closed 0.8% higher at R390.47 as Brent crude held above $70 a barrel‚ while the rand was steady at R11.63/$.

Richemont lost 0.4% to R104.75 and Remgro 1.64% to R221.31. FirstRand dropped 3.77% to R66.69 in exdividend trade and Barclays Africa 1.43% to R193.36. Capitec gained 0.67% to R900 in choppy trade.

Growthpoint gained 1.5% to R28.51‚ while Resilient shed 3.41% to R50.40 and Nepi Rockcastle 3.01% to R116.39.

MTN‚ trading ex-dividend‚ relinquished 1.52% to R118.18.

At 5.40pm, the Dow was up 0.35% to 24‚288.01 points‚ while in Europe the FTSE 100 had added 1.6%‚ the DAX 30 1.52% and the CAC 40 0.91%. At the same time, platinum had fallen 1.15% to $941.32/oz and gold 0.83% to $1‚342.08/oz. Brent crude was flat at $70.08 a barrel.

The top 40 Alsi futures index fell 0.23% to 49‚940 points. The number of contracts traded was 23‚172 from Monday’s 25‚675.