WATCH: Stock picks — Absa and Amgen

Mark du Toit from OysterCatcher Investments chose Absa as his stock pick of the day and Jean Pierre Verster from Protea Capital Management chose Amgen.

Du Toit said: “I’m going with Absa, they came out with a very detailed trading update which bodes well for building confidence in the sector. We saw their credit-loss ratio and they put through a large management overlay provision in the half year results and I think we will continue to see their credit-loss ratio reducing over the next three years.”

Verster said: “My stock is Amgen; it’s a US-listed biotech company that makes a biotech different from a pharma company. Their drugs are far more difficult to copy. They focus on certain drugs for arthritis, cancer, asthma and a few others.”