JSE closes flat as Naspers firms, while locally focused shares take a breather
The JSE closed flat on Friday, as local interest-rate-sensitive shares lost ground, but rand hedges ended the day higher.Naspers was the main gainer among the bigger stocks, on the news that Google had concluded a licensing agreement with Chinese internet company Tencent, of which Naspers owns about a third.Local shares, however, were sold off after a good run following the Reserve Bank’s decision to keep interest rates on hold on Thursday.Retail shares, as well as those in the banking and financial sectors, would have benefited from a rate cut, which some analysts expected, given the stronger rand and higher GDP growth projections. But the Bank elected to take a cautious stance, keeping the repo rate at 6.75%.Property stocks were under pressure earlier on Friday, but stabilised toward the close.Global markets shrugged off an impending US government shutdown. The Dow opened flat but the FTSE 100 was last seen up 0.38% and the DAX 30 1.22%.On Thursday, the US House of Representatives...
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