Banks, retailers shares gain at South African bourse

Banks and retailers shares rallied on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) on Monday after the National Prosecuting Authority dropped fraud charges against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.

Banks jumped 3.46 percent, with the broader financial index gaining 1.45 percent while big rand-hedge industrial stocks and resources lagged.

This left the R13.4-trillion index weaker at 50,590.08 points at close of trading, with the top 40 index shedding 0.65 percent.

The South African rand was trading at R13.54 to the U.S. dollar, R16.42 to the British pound and R14.81 to the euro at 5:00 p.m. local time.

Precious metals were mixed, with gold sliding 0.24 percent to 1272.68 U.S. dollars an ounce, silver rising 0.26 percent to 17.79 U.S. dollars an ounce, and platinum declining 0.01 percent to sell at 977.84 U.S. dollars an ounce.

Among individual shares on the JSE, petrochemical giant Sasol was 1.84 percent lower at R374.50.

Standard Bank jumped 3 percent to R143.25, Barclays' Africa edged up 2.9 percent to R156.41.

Woolies was up 2.41 percent to R78.32, with The Foschini Group gaining 4.11 percent to R139.03.

Shoprite jumped 4.05 percent to R198.73 after it was announced that CEO Whitey Basson was retiring at the end of December. Massmart rose 3 percent to R115.08. Endit