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The JSE opened the week on the backfoot on Monday as it closed weaker mainly on the back of losses recorded in the financials index.
Counters on the financials index retreated mainly on the back of a milder rand, while weaker sentiment from Asia and other global markets also failed to lift the other segments on the local bourse.
Stocks in Asia closed marginally firmer with gains of 0.19% being recorded for the Shanghai Composite Index while the Hang Seng added 0.14%. In Japan, the Nikkei rose 0.13%.
In Europe, stocks in Germany and France traded mostly weaker while in the United Kingdom the FTSE 100 traded mostly flat. Markets in the US hovered near the recent all-time highs but there was no catalyst in terms of either news or economic data to get them over that line.
The rand did open firmer on Monday, however, it weakened on the back of a broad mild sell-off in emerging market currencies. The local currency fell to a session low of R14.40/$ before it rebounded to trade 0.23% weaker at R14.35/$ at 17.00 CAT.
JSE Limited [JSE:JSE] closed amongst the day's biggest losers following the release of a weak trading statement for the 6 months ending June 30, 2019. The stock eventually closed 9.57% lower at R133.92.
Rebosis Property Fund [JSE:REB] lost more momentum towards the close as it eventually closed 8.45% lower at R0.65. Cement maker PPC Limited [JSE:PPC] closed at R4.70, while Imperial Logistics [JSE:IPL] lost 5.92% to end the day at R52.89.
Standard Bank [JSE:SBK] weakened by 1.51% as it closed at R203.19, while FirstRand [JSE:FSR] eventually closed at R69.50 after dropping 1.39% in a volatile session.
Rand hedge Bid Corporation [JSE:BID] lost 3.52% to close at R315.03, while Bidvest [JSE:BVT] fell 4.07% to close at R195.35.
Mining shares led gains on the day after significant gains were recorded for Sibanye Stillwater [JSE:SGL] which climbed 4.76% to close at R16.07.
Gold miner Harmony Gold [JSE:HAR] rose 3.61% to close at R31.02, AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG] added 3.54% to close at R250.55, while Gold Fields [JSE:GFI] closed at R78.86 after adding 2.3%.
Diversified mining giant Anglo American PLC [JSE:AGL] managed to post gains of 1.48% to close at R396.59, while luxury goods maker Richemont [JSE:CFR] closed 1.33% firmer at R121.70.
The blue-chip JSE Top-40 index eventually closed 0.39% softer while the JSE All-Share index shed 0.45%. The resources index was the only managed to post gains as it added 0.75%. The industrials and financials indices lost 0.55% and 1.33% respectively.
At 17.00 CAT, gold was 1% firmer at $1 413.49/Oz, platinum was up 0.27% to trade at $812.20/Oz, and palladium had gained 1.54% to trade at $1 526.95/Oz.
Brent crude retreated from its recent highs to trade 1.13% weaker at $63.72/barrel just after the JSE close.
* Musa Makoni is a trading specialist at Purple Group.
