South Africa Equity Markets | 20 Oct 2015: South Africa equity ends in red, losses across sectors …

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Capital Markets in Africa — Negative sentiment continued on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) equity trading at the end of Tuesday’s trading session. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) All Share index sagged by 0.57 percent or 303.91 points to end at 52,880.16 points. The JSE Top 40 index also declined by 0.65 percent or 309.83 points to end at 47,410.34 points.

From the sector perspectives, JSE financial sector index dipped by 0.51 percent to end at 44,602.71 points. Both Industrial and industrial 25 sector indexes fell by 0.61 percent to close at 78,667.93 points and soared by0.67 percent to settle at 70,805.42 points respectively. The resource index waned by 0.52 percent or 179.59 points to close at 34,604.68 points and the gold mining sector index decreased by 0.09 percent or 0.95 points with a closing level of 1,073.47 points.

From the market strength/breath (measured as the ratio of gainers to losers), the market recorded 137 price ups, 205 price downs and 47 remained unchanged, hence market strength/breathe closed in the negative  zone.  Out of the top gainers was Randgold & Exploration Company Limited, whose shares added 13.56 percent to close at ZAR 2.01 after investors exchanged 67 shares. Capital Appreciation Limited soared by 8.18 percent after traded 6,404,434 shares, boosting the share price to ZAR 1.19. Interwaste Holdings Limited also added 7.50 percent to end at ZAR 1.29 after investors traded 249,625 shares. Cullinan Holdings Limited gained 7.14 percent to end at ZAR 1.505 after exchanged a total of 5,000 shares. Sephaku Holdings Limited rose by 6.76 percent to end at ZAR 6.95 after trading 34,598 shares.

On the other hand, Nvest Financial Holdings Limited whose shares ended at ZAR 2.55 after by declined by 7.27 percent after 23,015 shares were bought and sold. Arcelormittal Sa Limited waned by 6.54 percent to close at ZAR 10.00 after 398,986 shares were traded. York Timber Holdings Limited plunged by 5.77 percent to trade at ZAR 2.45 a share after investors bought and sold 422,296 shares. Nampak lost 4.58 percent to trade at ZAR 22.90 after 4,775,699 traded deals. After investors bought and sold 33,250 shares, Hospitality Prop Fund B fell by 4.48 percent to trade at ZAR 3.20.  

On the currency markets front, the South rand was weaker against the US dollar at ZAR 13.3133 after losing by 0.20 percent and against the British pound to close at ZAR 20.5426 after dropping 0.13 percent. Also, the rand fell by 0.31 percent against the Euro to close at ZAR 15.0989.