The JSE closed in firmer territory on Wednesday‚ as gains by market heavyweight Naspers tipped the scales‚ despite broad-based losses in other indices.
European shares edged lower as a rising euro offset upbeat eurozone purchasing managers index data‚ Dow Jones Newswires reported. Comments from US President Donald Trump‚ in which he threatened to shut down the US government if it meant fulfilling his electoral pledge to build a border wall‚ helped take the edge off a global stock market rally‚ the newswire said.
Analysts said the Statistics SA inflation report for July‚ released on Wednesday‚ had increased prospects of a second rate cut from the Reserve Bank‚ but that risk factors remained. A big risk factor for SA’s outlook was still the possibility of a hefty electricity tariff hike‚ as the National Treasury sought to minimise liquidity risk at Eskom‚ said Nomura emerging-markets analyst‚ Peter Attard Montalto.
The all share closed 0.23% higher at 56‚162.30 points and the blue-chip top 40 added 0.29%. Industrials gained 0.61%. Platinums lost 1.41%‚ food and drug retailers 0.91%‚ general retailers 0.78%‚ gold 0.66%‚ banks 0.64% and property 0.40%.
British American Tobacco shed 1.23% to R801.50.
Grindrod closed 2.47% lower at R12.61. The company reported a headline loss per share for the six months to the end of June of 17.3c‚ which was an improvement on the 50.8c loss a year ago.
Nedbank dropped 2.41% to R216.66 and Standard Bank 1.03% to R163.10.
Among asset managers‚ Anchor lost a further 4.09% to R4.45; it has lost 55% so far this year. Coronation Fund Managers gained 0.67% to R70.47.
Woolworths shed 1.86% to R66.03‚ Spar 1.22% to R172.80 and TFG 1.53% to R152.63.
In the construction sector‚ Murray & Roberts dropped 4.34% to R13.68.
MTN fell 1.54% to R122.33.
Naspers ended the day 2.27% higher at R2‚993.
Curro Holdings shed 2.04% to R38.94.
At 5.40pm‚ the Dow was off 0.27% and the Nasdaq 0.25%. In European markets‚ the CAC 40 was off 0.28%‚ the DAX 0.30%‚ while the FTSE 100 was flat.
Brent crude had firmed 1.65% to $52.42 a barrel.
Gold had added 0.19% to $1287.14 an ounce and platinum 0.25% to $976.65.
The top-40 Alsi futures index was up 0.42% to 49‚670 points.
The number of futures contracts traded on the JSE was 25‚216 from Tuesday’s 19‚631.
By: Karl Gernetzky – BusinessLIVE
Source: TMG Digital.