MARKET WRAP: JSE higher in broad-based gains, with gold miners faring best
The protracted US-China trade war continues to batter global markets, and is fuelling fears of a global recession
03 June 2019 - 18:38
byOdwa Mjo
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The JSE rose on Monday, while global markets remained cautious as US President Donald Trump’s trade crackdown continues to weigh on market sentiment.
The protracted US-China trade war has fuelled concerns of a potential global recession, as the two superpowers have not yet reached a deal.
Asian markets were lower earlier and there was little positive news flow. Most commodity prices pushed higher, however, with gold faring well, amid investor interest in safe-haven assets.
The gold index led gains on the local bourse, climbing 3.62%. The all share added 1.14% to 56,286.3 points and the top 40 1.26%.
Banks rose 1.6%, industrials 1.5%, property 1.44% and platinum miners 1.08%.
Risk aversion increased on Friday after the US announced it would impose a 5% tariff on Mexican imports in a bid to force it to stem illegal migration.
Global equity markets were mixed on Monday. Earlier the Shanghai Composite fell 0.3% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 0.92%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was little changed.
At the close of the JSE, the Dow had gained 0.33% to 24,897.13 points, the FTSE 100 0.27%, France’s CAC 40 0.46% and Germany’s DAX 30 0.38%.
Imperial slumped 5.12% to R57.10, after saying earlier it intends to write down the value of loss-making consumer packaged goods business in SA by up to R1.4bn as part of the group’s portfolio restructuring.
Delta Property gained 2.53% to R2.03; the company earlier reported a decline in distributable earnings for the year to end-February from 97.24c to 73.84c.
Sirius rose 1.79% to R11.92, after the real-estate company said its total dividend for the year ended March increased by 6.3% to 3.36c.
Taste jumped 22.22% to 11c, despite the troubled group reporting a revenue decrease of 7% to R959.5m for the year ended February.
Tongaat fell another 1.2% to R16.50. The company is still reeling after saying on Friday that it needed to restate its financial statements for the year to March 2018, after identifying “past [accounting] practices, which are of significant concern”.
Naspers gained 2.27% to R3,350, after its Hong Kong-listed subsidiary Tencent earlier gained 2.33%.
Brait climbed 6.99% to R17.90.
Shortly after the JSE closed, the rand had gained 0.81% to R14.4720 to the dollar, 0.49% to R16.2145 to the euro and 0.81% to R18.2815 to the pound. The euro was 0.32% higher at $1.1204.
The benchmark R186 government bond had strengthened, with its yield falling 3.5 basis points to 8.4%. Bond yields move inversely to bond prices.
Gold gained 1.05% to $1,318.87 an ounce and platinum 2.65% to $815.31. Brent crude recovered 0.32% to $61.88 a barrel, after slumping more than 10% last week, its biggest weekly fall since December.
Absa’s purchasing manager’s index (PMI) fell to 45.4 points in May, from April’s 47.2. Total new vehicle sales declined an annualised 5.7% to 40,506 in May. Vehicle exports fell 8.8%, their first fall this year.
More local economic data is expected this week. GDP figures for the first quarter will be released on Tuesday, with analysts expecting a contraction of 1.6%, according to a Bloomberg consensus.
The SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry is set to release business confidence figures for May on Wednesday; Bloomberg expects a rise to 94 points from 93.7 previously.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
MARKET WRAP: JSE higher in broad-based gains, with gold miners faring best
The protracted US-China trade war continues to batter global markets, and is fuelling fears of a global recession
The JSE rose on Monday, while global markets remained cautious as US President Donald Trump’s trade crackdown continues to weigh on market sentiment.
The protracted US-China trade war has fuelled concerns of a potential global recession, as the two superpowers have not yet reached a deal.
Asian markets were lower earlier and there was little positive news flow. Most commodity prices pushed higher, however, with gold faring well, amid investor interest in safe-haven assets.
The gold index led gains on the local bourse, climbing 3.62%. The all share added 1.14% to 56,286.3 points and the top 40 1.26%.
Banks rose 1.6%, industrials 1.5%, property 1.44% and platinum miners 1.08%.
Risk aversion increased on Friday after the US announced it would impose a 5% tariff on Mexican imports in a bid to force it to stem illegal migration.
Global equity markets were mixed on Monday. Earlier the Shanghai Composite fell 0.3% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 0.92%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was little changed.
At the close of the JSE, the Dow had gained 0.33% to 24,897.13 points, the FTSE 100 0.27%, France’s CAC 40 0.46% and Germany’s DAX 30 0.38%.
Imperial slumped 5.12% to R57.10, after saying earlier it intends to write down the value of loss-making consumer packaged goods business in SA by up to R1.4bn as part of the group’s portfolio restructuring.
Delta Property gained 2.53% to R2.03; the company earlier reported a decline in distributable earnings for the year to end-February from 97.24c to 73.84c.
Sirius rose 1.79% to R11.92, after the real-estate company said its total dividend for the year ended March increased by 6.3% to 3.36c.
Taste jumped 22.22% to 11c, despite the troubled group reporting a revenue decrease of 7% to R959.5m for the year ended February.
Tongaat fell another 1.2% to R16.50. The company is still reeling after saying on Friday that it needed to restate its financial statements for the year to March 2018, after identifying “past [accounting] practices, which are of significant concern”.
Naspers gained 2.27% to R3,350, after its Hong Kong-listed subsidiary Tencent earlier gained 2.33%.
Brait climbed 6.99% to R17.90.
Shortly after the JSE closed, the rand had gained 0.81% to R14.4720 to the dollar, 0.49% to R16.2145 to the euro and 0.81% to R18.2815 to the pound. The euro was 0.32% higher at $1.1204.
The benchmark R186 government bond had strengthened, with its yield falling 3.5 basis points to 8.4%. Bond yields move inversely to bond prices.
Gold gained 1.05% to $1,318.87 an ounce and platinum 2.65% to $815.31. Brent crude recovered 0.32% to $61.88 a barrel, after slumping more than 10% last week, its biggest weekly fall since December.
Absa’s purchasing manager’s index (PMI) fell to 45.4 points in May, from April’s 47.2. Total new vehicle sales declined an annualised 5.7% to 40,506 in May. Vehicle exports fell 8.8%, their first fall this year.
More local economic data is expected this week. GDP figures for the first quarter will be released on Tuesday, with analysts expecting a contraction of 1.6%, according to a Bloomberg consensus.
The SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry is set to release business confidence figures for May on Wednesday; Bloomberg expects a rise to 94 points from 93.7 previously.
mjoo@businesslive.co.za
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