JOHANNESBURG - The rand yesterday showed signs of recovery, threatening to breach the key resistance level of R12 against the dollar.
The local currency bid at R12.01 against the greenback at 5pm, compared to R12.05 on Tuesday, while it was at R17.06 against the pound from R17.08, and bid at R14.87 against the euro, compared to R14.88 in the previous session.
Andre Botha, a dealer at TreasuryOne, said the trade wars and Turkey interest rate stand-off between the Prime Minister and the central bank did not bode well for emerging markets in the short term.
While the rand held up well against trade wars trepidations, the JSE closed the trading session more than 1percent down. The all share index lost 577.17 points to close at 56170, while the Top40 index shed 563.17 points to 49472.
The key financials index closed the day 1.29percent lower, while the industrials index shed 1.19percent.
However, gold mining stocks closed the day in the black, with the index 2.52percent stronger.
Some of the bid movers on the JSE mirrored the performance on the previous trading session.
Brainworks continued its stellar rise with its stock closing yesterday’s session 14percent to R28.50. The firm's stock has surged 284percent in the last 30 days.
Randgold and Exploration share price added 18.67percent to R1.78, while Royal Bafokeng was up 10.57percent to R26.99.
Group Five continued to bleed, plunging 13.8percent to R4.06. In the last month, the group’s share price has tanked a massive 40.38percent and 62percent in the last 90 days.
Aveng stock shed 10.19percent to R0.97. The company has also endured a torrid start to the year, having bled 55 percent in the past three months.
Meanwhile, Reuters reports that global equity markets slid yesterday as US President Donald Trump warned Russia that missiles “will be coming”, in Syria after a suspected chemical attack, and oil hit its highest in more than three years after Saudi Arabia said it intercepted missiles over Riyadh.
The fallout from new US sanctions on Moscow have rattled investors and fears of military action were stoked after one of Russia’s ambassadors reiterated it would shoot down any US missiles fired at Syria.