MARKET WRAP: JSE pushes towards 59,000 points, led by Naspers

Positive global markets helped lift the JSE on Tuesday, with Naspers and retailers leading the gains as US markets pushed towards record highs.

Gains were broad-based, with only the local banking index a little lower. 

Market focus this week remains on US corporate earnings, but a series of economic data releases are also getting some attention.

Global markets were generally higher, with the Shanghai Composite earlier snapping a three-day losing streak, rebounding more than 2%, as investors await China’s first-quarter GDP numbers on Wednesday.

Naspers firmed 2.29% to R3,590.50, tracking gains in Hong Kong-listed Tencent. The market heavyweight, which constitutes more than a fifth of the all share, has gained for the past 10 consecutive weeks.

The all share firmed 1.12% to 58,902.6 points and the top 40 1.21%. Gold miners added 2.11%, food and drug retailers 1.19% and industrials 1.59%.

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Shortly after the JSE closed, the Dow was up 0.11% to 26,415.48 points, while in Europe, the FTSE 100 had risen 0.43%, the CAC 40 0.23% and the DAX 30 0.59%.

At the same time, gold was down 0.84% to $1,276.65/oz and platinum 0.69% to $880.47. Brent crude had lost 0.17% to $71.16 a barrel.

Tuesday saw no economic data releases but both March consumer inflation and February retail sales numbers are due on Wednesday.

The consensus, according to macro-economics website Trading Economics, is for retail sales to have grown 1.2% year-on-year, while inflation is expected to accelerate to an annualised 4.6% from February’s 4.1%.

EOH rocketed 55.23% to R20.18, despite having earlier reported a R3.3bn loss for the six months to end-January, from a profit of R70.9m in the prior comparative period. The company was hit by impairments of some of its assets, but said that if once-off items were excluded, its operating expenses had remained flat during the period.

Steinhoff International added 1.73% to R1.76. Earlier, it said it was open to settling with those seeking damages as a result of a share price plunge prompted by accounting irregularities. Such settlements are being considered as alternatives to litigation, with the company facing class-action lawsuits from a number of aggrieved shareholders.

Northam Platinum gained 3.99% to R63.60. It earlier said it had completed the private placement of R1.65bn in medium-term bonds, which would be partially used to repurchase its shares, as well as those of empowerment partner Zambezi Platinum.

Mpact fell 2.06% to R24.29. Earlier, the Competition Commission said the packaging group had colluded to fix prices.

Nu-World Holdings jumped 7.62% to R45.20. It said earlier that headline earnings per share (HEPS) rose 9.1% in the six months to end-February compared to the matching prior period.

Zeder Investments added 1.9% to R4.28. It said earlier that HEPS jumped 81.9% to 45.1c in the year to end-February, in the middle of its recent guidance. Its dividend was maintained at 11c per share.

gernetzkyk@businesslive.co.za