JSE gains as global market sentiment improves
The JSE was higher on Thursday morning, in line with most global markets while traders remained cautious amid more uncertainty regarding the US-China trade war.
Reports that the signing of the partial trade deal may be delayed to December earlier weighed on sentiment amid expectations that the deal would be signed in November.
“Given the late push by the Chinese to remove additional tariffs as part of the deal though, you have to question whether these delays are simply an administrative conundrum or something deeper. If trade talks fell apart at the 11th hour, the festive period may be a little less cheery this year for investors,” Oanda senior market analyst Craig Erlam said.
Earlier, the Shanghai Composite was flat while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.57% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 0.11%.
In Europe, the FTSE 100 was up 0.33%, France’s CAC 40 0.26% and Germany’s DAX 0.78%.
At 10.55am, the JSE all share had added 0.27% to 57,806.2 points and the top 40 was 0.25% up. Banks were up 0.68% and financials 0.52%.
ArcelorMittal was down 1.18% to R1.68. The steel manufacturer said on Thursday that local sales fell 16.9% to 737,000 tonnes in the quarter to end-September.
Dis-Chem Pharmacies added 5.83% to R25.40. The company said on Thursday that its headline earnings per share fell 38.9% to 31c in the six months to end-August.
PPC slumped 16% to R3.27 after the cement maker said on Thursday that it expected headline earnings per share to have decreased between 65% and 85% (14c-18c) in the six months to end-September.
Locally, Statistics SA is set to release manufacturing production for September later on Thursday.
Source: businesslive.co.za
