Miners and banks weigh down JSE

Miners and banks pushed the JSE lower yesterday as markets globally continued to focus on the latest moves by regulators in China and the prospects for tighter monetary policy in the US.

Authorities in China have turned their attention to casinos, with officials in the gambling hub of Macau announcing a review of how the industry is regulated, including the appointment of government representatives to “supervise” operators.

The JSE all share slumped 1.66% to 63,313.75 points and the top 40 shed 1.94%.

Precious metals dropped 4.69%, resources 4.02%, industrial metals 3.79%, banks 2.7% and financials 2.28%.

Locally, FirstRand reported an impressive set of annual results, but said it was still struggling to shake off the damage wrought by Covid-19.

The financial services group said normalised earnings — a measure that removes the effects of one-off or seasonal items — came in at R26.55bn for the year ended June, up 54% on a year earlier.

The group's share price fell 2.92% to R59.82 — its biggest one-day decline in two months.