Share prices on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) closed firmer on Monday with the rand appreciated against the dollar.

The JSE all-share index was 0.28 percent higher at 58,879.14 points by close of session. The blue-chip top 40 index traded 0.14 percent higher on a high of 52,479.18 points. The industrial index was 0.31 percent up at 89,831.86 points, but the resources index dropped 0.09 percent. The three big commodity giants, which all made strong gains over the past three months, continued to lose ground after investors started to take profits on Friday.

The firmer local unit supported banking shares, with the financial index moving 0.44 percent higher.
The South African rand traded at 13.03 to the U.S. dollar, compared to intraday low of 14.33 seen last week following the medium-term budget policy statement.

Banks and other rand-sensitive stocks are biggest beneficiaries from the rebound in the currency. Capitec gained 1.72 percent to R945.18, while Sanlam added 0.75 percent to R70.93.

The industrial index was supported by Naspers, which added 1.27 percent to settle at R3,451 for the first time.

Two other giants, British American Tobacco and Richemont, were weaker. British American Tobacco lost 1.51 percent to R917.24 and Richemont dropped 0.71 percent to R129.4.

Sasol was 0.17 percent firmer at R405.39 and MTN 0.38 percent at R122.91.

Retailer Shoprite was one of the big losers on the JSE on Monday. It lost 2.43 percent to R202.64, following an operational update.

Package and pulp group Sappi was off 1.73 percent to R96.22.