Gold soars amid US-North Korea war talk
Weaker rand and Trump’s North Korea tweets help push up index
Gold shares were sharply higher on the JSE on Thursday, outperforming all sectors, as persistent geopolitical tension and the weaker rand trend supported gold miners, which had been lagging the all share in 2017. The gold index closed 6.18% higher at 1,369.32 points. The rand weakened to R13.53 to the dollar on Wednesday after President Jacob Zuma survived a parliamentary vote of no confidence by a narrow margin. The currency firmed to R13.3490 on Thursday. It has been a case of stock-picking for gold shares in 2017, with Gold Fields up 25.8%. But other gold stocks have done badly, led by DRD Gold losing 39.2%, Sibanye 24.5% and Harmony 24.7%. AngloGold Ashanti is down 14.3%. The star performer of the day was AngloGold Ashanti, whose share price jumped 7.37% to R130.76. Harmony was up 6.27% to R23.73 and DRD Gold gained 6.38%, to R4.50. Mining production data released on Thursday pointed to further contraction in the gold sector. Overall mining production declined by an annual 0.8% ...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.