Insurance companies, Old Mutual and Discovery dropped 4.1% and 1.6%, respectively. File image.
South African markets closed in the red yesterday, weighed down by losses in insurance and banking sector stocks.
Insurance companies, Old Mutual and Discovery dropped 4.1% and 1.6%, respectively.
Lenders, Standard Bank Group, FirstRand, Capitec Bank Holdings and Nedbank Group declined 2.8%, 1.8%, 1.4% and 1.3%, respectively.
Retailers, Shoprite Holdings, Clicks Group, Cashbuild and Pick ‘n Pay Stores fell 2.3%, 1.2%, 0.9% and 0.7%, respectively.
On the flipside, platinum miners, Impala Platinum, Northam Platinum and Anglo American Platinum jumped 7.9%, 2.4% and 1.9%, respectively.
Gold miners, Sibanye Stillwater, AngloGold Ashanti, Harmony Gold Mining and Gold Fields advanced 5.2%, 3.8%, 3.1% and 0.8%, respectively.
The JSE All Share index marginally declined to close at 72,995.19.
On Thursday morning, brent prices rose 0.2% to trade at $87.44/bl.
Yesterday, Brent prices fell 3.0% to settle at $87.29/bl, following a rise in the US crude oil inventories and weaker Chinese economic data.
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that the US crude inventories advanced by 2.74mn bls in the week ended 12 April 2024.
Also on Thursday morning, gold prices advanced 0.6% to trade at $2,374.39/oz.
Yesterday, gold declined 0.9% to close at $2,360.81/oz, amid declining possibilities of US interest rate cuts weighed on precious metal demand.
Yesterday, copper rose 0.6% to close at $9,433.00/mt. Aluminium closed 0.6% higher at $2,587.04/mt.
Yesterday, the South African rand strengthened against the US dollar.
In South Africa, consumer price inflation rose less than expected in March.
In the US, the number of MBA mortgage applications rose in the week ended 12 April 2024.
The yield on benchmark government bonds fell yesterday. The yield on the 2030 bond declined to 10.97%, while that for the longer-dated 2040 issue fell to 13.40%.
On Thursday morning, the US dollar was trading 0.1% lower against the South African rand at R18.9969, while the euro is trading 0.1% lower at R20.2862. The British pound has marginally declined against the South African rand to trade at R23.6853.
Yesterday, the euro advanced against most of the major currencies. In the eurozone, consumer price inflation softened in March, in line with market expectations. In the UK, the consumer price index (CPI) softened in March to its lowest since September 2021. Moreover, the the DCLG house price index fell in February.
The euro marginally advanced against the US dollar to trade at $1.0677, while it has slightly weakened against the British pound to trade at GBP0.8566.
BUSINESS REPORT