Copper falling 3%, sending BHP Billiton’s share price down 3.35% to A$24.98 in Sydney, augers badly for the JSE’s miners on Friday. Other industrial metals whose prices sank on Friday morning were tin which fell 2.79%, zinc which fell 2.62% and aluminium which fell 0.95%. The big overnight fall in metal prices was partly blamed on the dollar weakening after US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin tempered President Donald Trump’s campaign promise of 4% economic growth, saying 3% was more likely. The weaker dollar saw the rand trading at R12.88/$ on Friday morning. A stronger yen was bad news for Japanese manufacturers, sending Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index down 0.65%. Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.8% as miners suffered from the fall in base metal prices. Insurance group Liberty warned shareholders in a trading statement on January 27 it expected to report on Friday that basic and headline earnings per share (HEPS) fell up to 60% in the year to end-December. Reasons for the drop included...
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