Investor fears weaken the JSE

The JSE was off to a rocky start on Wednesday as investor fears set in surrounding the ANC’s announcement Tuesday evening that it wanted to amend the Constitution to clarify under which conditions land expropriation without compensation could take place. 

Global markets were muted at the start of the trading session, but rebounded later in the day as they awaited the US Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decision on interest rates. 

The decision is expected at around 20:00 South African time.

The JSE All-Share index was under pressure throughout the day and lost 0.22% at the market close. The blue-chip JSE Top-40 index closed 0.25% down. The Industrial index edged 0.22% higher, while the Financials and Resources indices ended 0.85% and 0.71% down respectively.

The rand, which fell when the ANC's announcement was made late on Tuesday evening, managed to record gains on Wednesday against the dollar. At 17:00, the rand was trading 0.51% firmer at R13.19/$, after opening at R13.24 to the greenback.

ArcelorMittal SA Limited [JSE:ACL] was one of  the day’s biggest movers closing 14.38% higher at R3.66 per share. Royal Bafokeng Platinum Limited [JSE:RBP] locked in some gains and moved higher by 5.48% to close at R 25.62 per share.

Astral Foods Limited [JSE:ARL] added 3.60% to close the day at R 302.51 per share. Tradehold [JSE:TDH] was under pressure and closed 3.63% lower at R 13.01 per share, while Intu Properties PLC [JSE:ITU] also closed 3.53% lower at R29.00 per share. Glencore [JSE:GLN] was down 2.93% to close at R 56.07 per share.

The price of Brent crude came under pressure on Wednesday as weekly Crude oil inventories surprised with a 3.803m barrel build in inventories, Brent crude was weaker by -1.71% at $ 72.95 per barrel just after the JSE closed. 

At 17:00 gold was trading 0.43% down at $1 218.59 per ounce, with platinum 2.41% weaker at $820.70/Oz. Palladium lost -1.93% to trade at $911.20/Oz.

Cryptocurrencies also moved lower as Bitcoin traded weaker on the day, losing 7.22% to trade at $7 607 per coin, while Ethereum was 12.62% to change hands at $422 per coin. 

* The JSE market update is from GT247.com, an online broker and authorised financial services provider.

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