JSE looks set to gain from further Tencent increase

The JSE might be in for another good day as Tencent and other tech stocks accelerated on the Hang Seng, lifting the overall performance of the bourse in Hong Kong.

The Hang Seng accelerated by 1.74%, while the Shanghai composite in mainland China was flat and the Nikkei slowed by 0.10%. Year to date, the Hang Seng is down by close to one-third (33.04%), the Shanghai composite 17.48% and the Nikkei 6.48%.

Tencent, which influences the JSE via Naspers and Prosus, was up 2.17%, but has still more than halved (52.36%) in 2022.

The Hang Seng was also lifted off historic lows as sentiment stabilised after news from mainland China over the weekend of President Xi Jinping being elected for an unprecedented third term. 

In mainland China, the market was also helped by Chinese authorities vowing to keep the local equity and bond markets stable.

The Japanese market tracked partly lower markets from the US overnight, while a stronger yen saw local banks trading lower.

In local market news, the rand strengthened to the best level in a month on Wednesday as investors welcomed finance minister Enoch Godongwana’s medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS).

Godongwana struck the right tone with markets after unveiling a better-than-expected budget deficit and primary balance outcomes, an improved outlook on the country’s debt ratio and continued strong emphasis on fiscal consolidation.

The JSE gained 1.9% to 67,103.09 points — the highest level in five weeks — while the top 40 was 2.19% firmer. Precious metals rose 3.99%, resources 3.31%, industrial metals 2.85%, banks 2.8%, financials 2.6% and industrials 1.1%.

Mixed US markets

Meanwhile, it was a mixed bag from US markets on Wednesday as the Nasdaq ended 2.04% lower, the S&P 500 shed 0.74%, and the Dow Jones was flat. The Nasdaq has lost 30.71% so far this year, the S&P 500 just over one-fifth (20.14%) and the Dow Jones 12.97%.

“A disappointing revenue forecast from Facebook parent Meta helped push the Nasdaq down more than 2% yesterday, though there was a much smaller decline from the S&P 500, which fell only 0.74%, holding just above support levels,” the ING Group said in a note.

“Alphabet shares were 9.1% lower, their biggest daily drop since March 2020, after slowing revenue growth and the first drop in YouTube advertising sales,” National Australia Bank (NAB) economist Taylor Nugent said in a note.

“Microsoft shares declined 7.7% after the company reported its weakest revenue growth in more than five years and said it expects a sharp decline in personal computer sales,” he added.

The rand lost footing against the rampant dollar on Thursday morning, but was below the R18/$ mark as it traded at R17.96. The rand has depreciated by 10.87% against the greenback so far this year.

In commodities, the price of gold, platinum and Brent crude were all down. Gold was 0.04% lower at $1,663.72/oz, platinum 0.32% at $948.00 and Brent crude 0.12% at $94.01 a barrel.

In corporate news, building materials and mining group Afrimat will release its interim results.

Afrimat expects its interim earnings to decline by as much as 20% due to lower iron-ore prices and higher production costs. Headline earnings per share (Heps), a measure of profit that strips out impairments and one-off items, are forecast at 236.1c-265.6c for the six months to end-August, a decline of 10%-19.8% year on year.

The two big economic numbers will be the producer price index (PPI) being released by Stats SA at 11.30am, followed by the construction materials price indices at midday.

The PPI declined to 16.6% in August, from a peak of 18% in July. PPI is expected to ease further in September, underpinned by the fall in the prices of petrol and diesel by an additional R2.04/l and 56c/l respectively.

gousn@businesslive.co.za