The JSE was lower on Wednesday with retailers and property stocks suffering as hopes of lower interest rates fade following the recent sovereign rating downgrades. S&P Global Ratings and Fitch now have SA in junk status while Moody’s has the country’s rating on review for a downgrade. It is expected to make its decision known in the next few weeks. A slightly stronger rand and lower commodity prices for much of the day put pressure on certain miners, while banks regained some of their recent big losses. The all share closed 0.24% lower at 52,545.10 points and the blue-chip top 40 dropped 0.22%. The gold index gave up 2.34%, property 1.23%, general retailers 1.10%, resources 0.36% and industrials 0.35%. Pick n Pay closed 4.40% lower at R61.69. It earlier reported a 17% rise in full-year after-tax profit to R1.2bn. Woolworths dropped 1.34% to R72 and Shoprite 0.77% to R201.43. In the property sector, Growthpoint shed 1.75% to R25.25 and Hyprop 1.87% to R122.50. Hammerson bucked the tr...
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