Following on from yesterday’s release of the CPIX statistics coming in at 10.4%, the producer price inflation (PPI) figures were released today and they rose by 12.4% year-on-year in April from 11.9% year-on-year in March. With the rising CPIX and PPI it is almost certain that the central bank will increase interest rates come June 12. With this in mind, banking stocks took a knock on the JSE today fuelled by the likelihood of an aggressive interest rate hike. The all share index lost 0.98%. Banks were the hardest hit in todays trading with Investec loosing 4.40% to close at R52.10 and FirstRand shedding 2.57% to close at R14.41. Read the rest of this entry »

The JSE ended in the red again today largely due to the falling metal prices and the terrible inflation statistics released today. The all share index closed 0.79% lower. Resources were down 1% while the gold index slumped 2.41% and the platinum index shed 2.12%. The Banks were down 0.93%, so to were financials by 0.28%. These two sectors were not helped at all by the inflation data released today which suggests there will be an interest rate hike soon.

The rand did not show much reaction to the inflation statistics. If anything the rand actually got stronger today. By the close of the JSE the rand was bid at R7.6784 to the dollar from a previous close of R7.7212. It was bid at R12.0325/€ from a previous R12.1205 and at R15.1864/£ from R15.2440 before.

It was really no surprise that the local markets slummed today after the release of GDP figures which showed that growth in the South Africa economy was slowing down. The rand slipped immediately after the release of the GDP figures. At 12:00 the rand was trading at R7.7293/$ from a previous close of R7.6810. Against other major currencies, the rand continued to soften: R12.1836/€ from R12.1270 and R15.2727/£ from R15.2158.

On the JSE, the all share index closed 0.79% in the red with the Top 40 index also dropping by 0.86%. Two telling factors for the poor performance in the markets today were the less than positive GDP figures and the weaker commodity stocks. The price of gold fell 2.16% and this resulted in the gold miner Harmony shedding 3.33% to close at R94.75. Other big loosers today were Sasol which dropped 2.77% to close at R483, BHP Biliton closed 2.09% lower to R306.21 and Anglo American lost 0.89% to close at R522.25.

The market was relatively quiet today due to it being a public holiday in the UK and USA. The JSE closed in the positive though, with the all share index gaining 0.55% at the close. Resources were up 1.35% so to were financials by 0.14%. Most eyes on the JSE today were on MTN who are still trying to sort out a possible deal with India’s Reliance Communications. MTN had initial been in talks with Bharti Airtel, also from India, but those talks have since terminated. Amongst all this uncertainty with MTN, their shares ended 5.7% lower today to close at R148.07 a share.

On the currency front, the rand was bid at R7.69/$ from a previous close of R7.67. This is an important week for the South African markets as Statistics South Africa will release the Q1 gross domestic product growth figures at 11:30 on Tuesday (27 May) and inflation figures on Wednesday (28 May). The results of these figures will go a long way to determining the market sentiment especially the inflation figures which could force interest rates to rise.

The JSE closed in the negative today inline with other markets across the world. Despite the injection by the US FED of more liquidity into the market there are still fears with regards to the credit market woes which continue to drive the markets down.

The JSE all share index closed 1.31% down. The financial stocks were amongst the biggest loosers of the day as the financial index closed 2.77% in the red. The gold mining index was the biggest gainer of the day after propelling itself 3.53%, this on the back of the gold price soaring through the $1 000 mark today.

As at 18:00 local time, the Rand was trading at 7.9447 to the dollar, 16.1346 to the pound and 12.3807 to the euro. At the same time, platinum was trading at $2 108.50 an ounce, gold was at $995.60 an ounce after reaching the $1 000 level during the day and oil was trading at $107.04 a barrel.

Today was a good day for the JSE with the all share index closing 1.65% higher. A combination of factors resulted in the JSE closing on the up: Resources were up 2.21% today, the platinum mining index rose 2.82% and industrials were up 1.37%. World markets were generally positive today after news that the US Federal Reserve Bank had raised liquidity in financial markets.

The rand was bid at R7.80 to the dollar from 7.84 when the JSE closed yesterday, while gold was quoted at $975.90 an ounce from $971.07 at the JSE’s last close. Platinum was last at $2 050/oz, up five dollars, from its overnight close of $2 045/oz.

The JSE ended in the positive today with the all share index closing 0.33% positive. This was in line with overseas markets.
The banking stocks were the biggest gainers of the day, gaining 4.04% coupled with financials which added 2.58%. Industrials were also on the up, 1.55%. On the down side were resources which fell 1.20%, the gold index closed 0.44% in the red and the platinum index slid 0.19%.

When the JSE closed the Rand was bid at R7.84 to the dollar show signs that the Rand is recovering a bit against the green back after trading at R7.96 yesterday.