Local markets
Gold miners climbed 5.67% and resources rose 3.16% on Thursday, offsetting losses in financials and industrial shares. The All Share finished 0.30% up at market close.
The rand weakened against the major currencies, and was trading at R14.25 to the US dollar, R20.74 to the British pound and R16.13 to the euro at 5pm.
Brent crude rose another 6.79% to sell at $47.50 a barrel after the US Federal Reserve seemed more positive about the propects for global economic growth.
International markets
The Japanese Nikkei ended 3.61% down after the Bank of Japan did not decide to increase monetary stimulus, while the Shanghai index fell 0.27% as raw materials prices were surpressed by continued restrictions on commodity futures trading.
In Europe, investors were also taken by surprise as the BOJ did not extend its stimulus measures as expected, and bank results were mixed. By 5pm in SA, the DAX had slipped 0.40%, the CAC40 had tumbled 0.66%, and the FTSE 100 had given up 0.79%.
In the US, disappointment over the Bank of Japan’s stimulus decision was somewhat offset by solid results from Facebook Inc. and news of corporate deals. The Dow Jones had declined 0.15%, the S&P 500 had edged up 0.05% and the Nasdaq had advanced 0.43% by close of trade in SA.
Share price news
Amongst the top ten movers up was Curro Holdings Ltd NPL (COHN), whose shares rose 9.23% to sell at R7.10 after investors exchanged 138,466 shares in 140 deals. Climbing 9.01% to R152.99 was Anglo American (AGL), after 7,913 deals traded a total of 4,791,036 shares today.
Ranking in the top ten losers was Aveng (AEG), whose shares dipped 5.10% after investors bought and sold 655,029 shares in 263 deals, sending the share price down to R4.65. Novus Holdings (NVS) slid 5.02% to R12.10 after 110 deals saw the sale of 343,242 shares.
