In Thursday's trading session in the local markets, the Top 40 closed the day down by 0.17%. The Resources 10 sector went down by 1.71%, the Financial 15 went up by 0.99%, the Industrial 25 went up by 0.71% and lastly the South African Listed Property index up by 0.86%. The Rand traded at R16.22 against the United States Dollar, R21.56 against the Great British pound, and R18.21 against the Euro. Rand breaks through R16 to the dollar in a year on fears of the new Covid-19 variant. JSE's All Share Index was flat, with Harmony and African Rainbow Minerals losing more than 4%. In the latest news, UK travel bans South Africa.
Figure 1: USDZAR Spot for 1 year
From the diagram above the rand broke the R16 to the dollar due to new Covid-19 variant fears.
On the commodities front, the Brent Crude oil is trading at $79.81 a barrel and WTI Crude oil is traded at $75.58 a barrel. Gold Spot price is currently trading at $1803.85, Platinum Spot is now trading at $985.30 and lastly, Palladium Spot price is at $1876.50. Gold prices gained on Friday, as concerns over the spread of a newly identified coronavirus variant boosted the metal’s safe-haven appeal. Oil prices slid more than 2% on Friday on concerns that a global supply surplus.
Across the globe, the S&P 500 closed the day up 0.23%, Dow Jones closed down 0.03% and the Nasdaq had a 0.37% up. The FTSE 100 closed up 0.33% and the DAX was up 0.25% and CAC40 was up 0.48%. In the Asian markets, the Nikkei 225 is down 2.53% and the Hang Seng is currently down 2.53%. Leading stock markets mostly rose on Thursday following data confirming a strong US economic recovery.
Things to look out for today in the trading day: South Africa Business Confidence (Oct) at 11.30 pm,
Any opinions, news, research, analyses, prices or other information contained on this website is provided as general market commentary and does not constitute investment advice. ThinkMarkets will not accept liability for any loss or damage including, without limitation, to any loss of profit which may arise directly or indirectly from use of or reliance on such information.
Learn and earn more today.
Visit our Education Centre