On Thursday at market close, strong gains in resource and gold mining shares helped to offset losses in financials and industrial shares, seeing the JSE All Share end up by 0.62%. Further weakness in the rand took the exchange rates to R10.89 to the US dollar and R17.78 to the British pound. Brent crude oil rose 0.52% to $106.94 a barrel after US crude oil inventories fell, indicating increased energy demand.
European markets were lower by 5pm SA time as investors considered the release of worse-than-expected corporate earnings. The DAX had lost 0.10%, the CAC40 had slipped 0.25% and the FTSE 100 had inched down 0.04%. US markets were lower after corporate earnings results fell short of analysts’ forecasts. The Dow Jones was 0.20% down, the S&P 500 had fallen 0.14% and the Nasdaq had slipped 0.03%.
African Eagle Resources (AEA) was the top gainer on Thursday as shares rose 20% to R0.06 after 5 deals traded 214,150 shares. In second place was Kaydav Group (KDV), which climbed to R1.35 after 58,920 shares were exchanged in 5 deals, a boost of 14.41% in share price. After investors sold 131,510 shares in 5 deals, Labat Africa (LAB) slid 21.43% to R0.11 a share to become top loser today. Mine Restoration Investments (MRI) lost 21.43% after 3 deals traded 118,001 shares to become joint leader, resulting in a share price of R0.11.
Bidvest Group will close its offer for a stake in drugmaker Adcock Ingram. The cash offer of 70 rand a share for 34.5 percent of Adcock will close at 1500 GMT on February 4.
New Highs for Billiton, Glencore, Sasol, Investec, Mondi, Capco and Naspers
F&G = 72 (Greed)
Dow -0.4%, FTSE -0.1%, DAX -0.2%, HSeng +0.8%, Nikkei +0.1%, AllOrds -0.3%
USD 10.93, EUR 14.89, GBP 17.86
Gold 1243.40, Plat 1439.50 Brent 106.44, Silver 20.14