JOHANNESBURG, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) rebounded to close firmer on Wednesday after suffering broad-based losses on Tuesday.
The South African rand weakened anew on Wednesday at the close, suggesting markets may not have fully absorbed Tuesday's poor GDP figures.
The currency had rebounded earlier from Tuesday's sharp losses. The shock 2.2-percent contraction in SA's gross domestic product in the first quarter was an indicator that a lot of work needs to be done by South African president Cyril Ramaphosa.
"Whichever way you look at them they point to an economy that is struggling. Without an honest look at our business policies & the politics behind them we have little chance of digging ourselves out of trouble," said David Shapiro, a market commentator from Sasfin.
The local unit traded at R12.71 to the dollar from R12.76, R14.97 to the euro from R14.95, and R17.06 to the pound from R17.1.
The all share ended the day 0.52 percent higher at 58,081.87 points with the top 40 rising 0.63 percent. Banks added 0.18 percent, general retailers dropped 0.22 percent, financials 0.64 percent, food and drug retailers 0.67 percent. Resources rose 1.16 percent and the gold index 0.54 percent.
Anglo American lifted 1.38 percent to R322.34.
Richemont added 0.63 percent to R119.10 and Naspers 2.69 percent to R3,385.56.
Standard Bank gained 0.42 percent to R209.02 and
Nedbank 3.39 percent to R274.94.
Among property stocks, Delta shed 2.08 percent to R6.11 after saying it intended to cut its dividend in the financial year.
MTN was down 2.22 percentto R116.24.
Steinhoff African Retail fell 4.37 percent to R16.62 amid allegations that the founders of Tekkie Town would be taking the retailer to court.
At the same time, gold had added 0.36 percent to 1,296.62 U.S. dollar an ounce while platinum added 0.58 percent to 905.76 dollar. Enditem
