JSE bounces back as market confidence returns

The JSE staged a substantial comeback on Thursday, following Wednesday’s rout, as global risk-on sentiment returned to the market.

The Dow was up 1.30% at the JSE’s close, following in the footsteps of better European markets, where the FTSE 100 firmed 0.80%.

JSE platinum shares recovered on a firmer metal price, which jumped 3% to $792/oz. Brent crude was unchanged at $70.70 a barrel, while resources shares improved from oversold levels.

The rise in global markets on the day came on the news that the US and China were set to resume trade talks later in August.

Dow Jones Newswires described the step as a “potentially positive development” as the prospect of a trade war has been one of the primary headwinds facing global equities of late.

At the same time, the Turkish lira had regained nearly all of its recent losses, after Qatar offered Turkey an economic support package worth $15bn.

Markets are hoping for some stabilisation after the recent volatility on two very sensitive issues — Turkey and China, FxPro analysts said. “In both cases, the situation is far from being resolved, but attempts by authorities to address the issues [have] prevented further declines in global markets.”

After plummeting 8% on Wednesday, Naspers recovered 2.79% to R3,146.14 on Thursday, while banks and financials were higher, despite the rand battling to improve from its overnight close of R14.56 to the dollar.

Property stocks put in a good performance, with retailers also perking up, while gold stocks remained under pressure from a stronger dollar. The euro, however, showed signs of paring recent losses, looking set to firm above $1.14 again.

The all share closed 1.65% higher at 56,562.30 points and the top 40 gained 1.8%. Platinums rose 2.64%, banks 2.15%, resources 1.73%, industrials 1.49%, food and drug retailers 1.17% and property 1.16%.

The gold index dropped 0.48%.

Anglo American rose 2.11% to R286.39 and Sasol 1.88% to R521.60. British American Tobacco gained 2.32% to R774.

Sibanye-Stillwater added 1.73% to R7.65 and Gold Fields 0.54% to R37.50.

Standard Bank firmed 1.59% to R187.18. The group earlier reported that interim headline earnings to end-June rose 5% to R12.6bn. The dividend per share was up 8%.

FirstRand climbed 2.4% to R63.69 and Absa 2.55% to R161.

Growthpoint was up 1.15% to R26.30 and Redefine 1.06% to R10.45.

Tiger Brands tumbled 8.94% to R298.33 after earlier saying its annual earnings to end-September were expected to be between 22% and 37% lower than those of 2017.

City Lodge plunged 8.23% to R134.48 after earlier reporting that a decline in occupancies led to a 1% drop in group revenue to R1.5bn, leaving net profit down 5% at R279.43m for the year to end-June.