JSE could rebound, as calm descends on Asian bourses

The JSE may rebound on Friday from Thursday’s 1.6% slide of the all share index.

Asian markets were calmer, after Thursday’s rout sparked by the Trump administration saying it intended carrying out its threat of 25% tariffs on $200bn worth of Chinese imports.

In Hong Kong, Naspers’s 31%-owned Tencent was up 1.6% to HK$350.60 on Friday, indicating Naspers may recover some of Thursday’s 2.9% drop.

In Sydney, mining giant BHP was down 0.6% to A$33.71, indicating its slide will continue on the JSE for a third trading day. BHP fell 2% to R289.67 on Thursday, following a 2.2% drop on Wednesday.

Tesla’s share price jumped 16.2% to $349.54 on the Nasdaq market on Thursday, saddling short-sellers with a $1.7bn paper loss.

“Tesla’s rapid cash burn and struggles at turning a profit have made it a favourite target for shorts,” Reuters reported.

The share price gain was a response to its results on Wednesday.

The rand was trading at R13.47 to the dollar, R15.61 to the euro and R17.53 to the pound early on Friday.

Paper maker Mondi and real estate investment trust Resilient are expected to release results on Friday.

Mondi’s share price has risen from a low of R288 in February to Thursday’s closing price of R362 on expectations of strong earnings. It has made several acquisitions during the reporting period.

Mondi said in a trading update in May that underlying operating profit of €295m for the first quarter of 2018 was 15% above the matching period in 2017.

Resilient’s share price crashed from above R150 in December to about R50 in March after asset manager 360One accused of using money loaned to Siyakha Educational Trust to inflate its share price along with its associate companies NEPI Rockcastle, Fortress, and Greenbay.

In May, Resilient re-issued its interim results for the six months to end-December with its figures restated to account for Siyakha as an entity it controlled.

One of the effects of this was to increase its interest-bearing borrowings to R16bn from the originally reported R9bn.