Investing.com – South Africa equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Financials, Financials & Industrials and Other Mineral Extractors sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Johannesburg, the FTSE/JSE Top 40 added 0.68%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the FTSE/JSE Top 40 were Brait (JO:BATJ), which rose 3.48% or 410.00 points to trade at 12012.66 at the close. Sanlam Ltd (JO:SLMJ) added 3.44% or 221 points to end at 6608 and Rmih (JO:RMIJ) was up 3.22% or 131.00 points to 4095.69 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Kumba Iron Ore Ltd (JO:KIOJ), which lost 5.35% or 650 points to trade at 11500 in late trade. Naspers Ltd (JO:NPNJn) declined 4.77% or 8424 points to end at 168728 and Anglo American Platinum Ltd (JO:AMSJ) shed 2.11% or 537 points to 24792.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 124 to 117 and 13 ended unchanged on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for August delivery was down 2.12% or 1.11 to $51.22 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in August fell 0.68% or 0.39 to hit $56.47 a barrel, while the August Gold contract rose 0.82% or 9.50 to trade at $1162.10 a troy ounce.
USD/ZAR was up 0.56% to 12.5231, while EUR/ZAR rose 1.13% to 13.8679.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.52% at 96.38.