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S. African stocks close weaker on Friday

Xinhua, November 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) took a big knock on Friday on worries about the risk of U.S. interest rates rising under the presidency of Donald Trump.

Retailers and financial stocks buckled under the weight of a strong U.S. dollar that translated into a much weaker rand, a development that cast a cloud on the local inflation and interest rate outlook.

The rand slumped to session lows of R14.39 against the U.S. dollar, its weakest in about four weeks, from highs of R13.17 earlier this week.

Gold stocks fell sharply on account of a weaker gold price, but some diversified miners held their ground, thanks to a continuing rally in the copper price, which stood at 5,601 dollars per tonne, its best level since 2015.

The rand was trading at R14.37 to the U.S. dollar, R18.09 to the British pound and R15.63 to the euro at 5 p.m. (CAT).

Precious metals fell, with gold losing 1.57 percent to sell at 1237.95 dollars an ounce, silver dropping 3.17 percent to 17.97 dollars an ounce, and platinum declining by 1.64 percent to 954.01 dollars an ounce.

The all share index was down 2.33 percent at 50,294.72 points at close of session breaking a four-day winning run.

Among individual stocks, resources giant Glencore was up 0.3 percent to R50 but AngloGold Ashanti shed 4.09 percent to R172.55 and Gold Fields shed 5.31 percent to R52.09.

Financial services group Nedbank gave up 4.26 percent to R219.43 and Barclays Africa lost 3.04 percent to R145.9.

Harmony Gold Mining Company was amongst the biggest movers downwards, as shares slid 14.14 percent to R37.41, while DRD Gold fell 10.47 percent to R5.9.

Woolworths dropped 3.45 percent to R68.71 while Mr Price tumbled 7 percent to R133.71. MTN was down 2.76 percent to R113.65 and Naspers 5.39 percent to R2,500. Enditem