Falling gold price, weaker rand send stocks lower

STOCKS closed lower on Friday, led by further falls in gold mining shares after last week’s drop in the price of bullion.

The Top40 index of blue chips was down 0.39 percent at 30 406.84 points, while the all share index closed 0.33 percent lower at 34 186.81 points.

Some of the largest gold producers were again among the Top40’s worst performers with shedding 1.9 percent to R93.52 and

falling 1.2 per- cent to R314.

The spot gold price was indicated 0.4 percent lower on Friday at $1 710.46 an ounce, the largest weekly fall since the middle of December, because of the stronger dollar.

Meanwhile, the rand declined the most in two weeks and bonds gained for the first day in three on Friday, on concern slowing growth in the euro region will dim prospects for exports.

At 5pm, the rand was bid at R7.5264 to the dollar, 4.81c weaker than on Thursday.

The yield on the government’s R77 billion of 6.75 percent bonds due 2021 fell. Bond risk fell to a six-month low.

Growthpoint Properties and the diversified mining African Iron, an Australian company with two exploration projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Banking stocks also ended the week among the worst stock performers.

declined 1.3 percent to close at R158.45, declined 0.7 percent to R24.45, and dropped 1.1 percent to close at R109.90.

Decliners outnumbered advances 146 to 139, with just more than a million shares changing hands.

The Standard & Poor’s GSCI spot index of 24 raw materials dropped for the first time in three days.