The JSE closed firmer on Wednesday after local retail sales data for June surprised to the upside. Market heavyweight Naspers once again helped lift the local bourse, following gains by Hong Kong-listed Tencent. Naspers rose 2.93% to R2,887.15 following the release of second-quarter results from Tencent, of which Naspers owns about a third. Local retail sales data for June beat analyst expectations, but after the release some were still circumspect about SA’s economic outlook. The all share gained 1% to 55,534.6 points, and the top 40 rose 1.14%. Resources added 1.4%, industrials 0.97%, banks and financials both 0.86%, and property stocks 0.54%. Gold miners were off 0.37%, and food and drug retailers 0.21%. Statistics SA reported on Wednesday that retail sales in June grew 2.9% from the same month in 2016‚ bringing growth for the second quarter to 2.2%. A consensus forecast had expected 2.2% in June. Consumer spending recovered in the second quarter, probably benefiting from lower i...
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