JSE cheers dovish Fed and upbeat Chinese data
The JSE pushed higher on Thursday morning, but its performance was not quite in line with that of Asian markets, as equities found favour from a dovish US Federal Reserve policy statement.
The Fed’s message on Tuesday was seen as particularly dovish. The world’s most influential central bank no longer plans to raise interest rates twice in 2019, boosting the hope that the Reserve Bank may be able to keep domestic rates on hold.
The tone from the Fed reinforces a view of no more interest rate increases in the first of 2019, said Investec chief economist Annabel Bishop. It had also decreased the chances of a rate hike in the second half of the year.
Positive Chinese data also lifted sentiment, with an official gauge of Chinese factory activity unexpectedly rising from a three-year low in December, reported Dow Jones Newswires.
Local interest-rate-sensitive shares, including banks and retailers, fared best on Thursday morning, the latter recovering from a slump on Wednesday prompted by a dismal trading update from Shoprite.
At 10.10am the all share was up 0.4% at 54,345.7 points and the top 40 added 0.4%. Food and drug retailers were up 2.49%, general retailers 2.38%, financials 1% and banks 1.06%.
Platinum was flat at $818.59/oz while gold added 0.12% to $1,321.29.
Brent crude was flat at $61.82 a barrel.
The rand gained about 30c against the dollar overnight, holding at a seven-month high against the greenback on Thursday morning.
Rand hedge Richemont was down 2.73% to R91.88 and British American Tobacco 1.08% to R463.17.
Mr Price was up 3.11% to R224.27.
Shoprite recovered 2.36% to R156.74, having plunged 14.21% on Wednesday.
Naspers gained 1.14% to R3,057.95.
Domestic data may offer the market some direction on Thursday, with producer price inflation (PPI) for December due at 11.30am, while trade balance numbers are due at 2pm.
Beyond this, the market will be looking for developments in the US-China trade talks and US jobs data on Friday.
Source: businesslive.co.za
