Aspen drags down bourse while rand hits a new low

Top movers Graph of the day

FTSE/JSE Africa Index Series

STOCKS slid on Friday, dragged down by drug maker Aspen, after its shares fell when GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) cut its stake in the Durban-based firm.

was the second-worst performer on the benchmark Top40 index, slipping by 4.4 percent to R388.50, after GSK sold some of its shares at a discount.

“We saw Aspen move sharply lower after GSK halved its shareholding; the market is reading this as quite negative,”

Aspen

Nilan Morar, the head of trading at Global Trader, said.

The blue chip Top40 index closed 0.93 percent lower at 45 872.93 points, while the broader all share index lost 0.84 percent to 51 798.74.

Assore was also one of the weakest stocks on the all share index as the price of its steelmaking commodity hovered near a record low below $60 (R735) a ton amid softer demand from China.

“The major stockpiles in the world coupled with low growth forecasts and lower demand and all of a sudden these companies are under pressure,” Morar said.

shares fell 5.46 percent to R110.61, its lowest level in almost six years.

Trade was relatively active with more than 229 million shares changing ownership, compared with last year’s daily average of 183 million shares.

Meanwhile, the rand extended losses against the dollar on Friday, falling to a new 13year low, as the US currency firmed on expectations that the Federal Reserve could hike

Assore

rates by June.

The rand breached the psychological R12.50 level to the dollar on the day. At 5pm it was bid at R12.4793 to the dollar, 22.48c weaker than Thursday’s bid of the same time.

“It remains a dollar scenario; the dollar is just not stopping, emerging markets in general are under huge pressure,” Ion de Vleeschauwer, a currency dealer at Bidvest Bank, said.

Government bonds tracked the rand, with the yield for the 2026 benchmark down.