The JSE all-share index is firmer in morning trade having added more than 1% to outperform major international indices peers.
Gains, although broad-based are being led by resource counters which benefit from improved commodity prices overnight as well as renewed rand weakness.
The resource index is 2% higher, while industrials and financials have added around 1% on the day.
In company news, the Lewis Group released a trading update for the 9 months guiding that revenue for the period grew by 4% and merchandise sales by 3%. The third quarter revenue increased by 8% driven by higher levels of promotional activity as well as the newly acquired Beare Stores’ contribution.
Sibanye Gold advised via an operational update that gold production for the year ending December 2014 was in line with guidance despite the underground fire at Driefontein earlier in the year and Eskom’s load shedding in the latter part of the December quarter. The company’s total cash cost for the year was $850/oz. while all in costs equate to approximately $1,080/oz.
The Rand is weaker today trading at R11.55 to the Dollar, which is the chart of the day. Also in currencies, the Rand is trading at R13.07 to the Euro and, R17.42 to the British Pound. In commodities Gold is trading at $1,282/oz., Platinum at $1,255/oz. and Brent Crude at $48.2/barrel.
On the economic front, UK preliminary GDP data fell marginally short of consensus estimates showing economic growth of 0.5% QoQ vs 0.6% expected and 2.7% YoY vs 2.8% expected. In the U.S. core durable goods data is expected at 3:30pm and at 5:00pm we await consumer confidence and new home sales data.
Chart of the day
A weekly chart shows how the rand’s long-term trend has been to weaken against the U.S. Dollar. In the short-term the price of the currency pair looks to be reversing off the support of a range at R11.33 and moving towards the resistance of that range at R11.83 to the U.S. Dollar.
USD/ZAR
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