JSE recovers as Asian markets disregard coronavirus fears

The JSE entered its first day of gains in three on Tuesday, tracking Asian stocks as the coronavirus death toll continues to climb. 

The local bourse looked set for its biggest day gain since January 17 on Tuesday, recovering after being battered by the spread of the coronavirus that prompted risk-off trade last week.

The virus death toll rose to more than 400 on Tuesday, with the first fatality reported in Hong Kong, the second death outside mainland China, Reuters reported. 

Asian markets were on the front foot on Tuesday, with the Shanghai Composite was playing catch up after being closed for more than a week due to an extended Lunar New Year holiday. China extended the holiday in an attempt to contain the spread of the coronavirus. 

Earlier, the Shanghai Composite added 1.34%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng 1.21% but Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.01%. 

At 10.45am, the JSE all share was up 1.13% to 56,461.5 points and the top 40 1.28%. Platinum miners jumped 5.44% and resources added 1.69%. 

City Lodge said on Tuesday that it expects normalised diluted headline earnings per share (HEPS) to have decreased between 49% and 54%, or between 191.3c and 172.6c, in the in the six months to end December 2019. Its share price was down 4.81% to R68.01 on Tuesday morning.

Vodacom said on Tuesday that its group revenue grew 6.6% to R23.6bn in the three months to end-December. Its share price was little changed at R117.57 on Tuesday morning.

mjoo@businesslive.co.za