JSE gains as global markets cheer trade truce comments
The JSE bounced back on Thursday, gaining for the first day this week as global markets picked up after US President Donald Trump’s comments that the US and China could soon reach a trade deal.
Trump said on Wednesday that the two economic superpowers were having “good” talks and that they could soon reach an agreement. Global equities were knocked on Wednesday after the US House said it would launch an impeachment inquiry into Trump for allegedly seeking help from Ukranian authorities to investigate former US vice-president Joe Biden.
“It is unsure how the ongoing impeachment inquiry would impact Trump’s mood in October’s trade negotiations, but we believe that he may concentrate his efforts in sealing a much-desired trade deal with China to divert the market’s attention from his impeachment inquiry and get the stock markets racing higher,” London Capital Group senior market analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya said.
Earlier, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.89% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.37% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 0.13%. In Europe, the FTSE 100 added 0.93%, France’s CAC 40 0.71% and Germany’s DAX 0.45%.
At 11.01am, the JSE all share was up 1.01% to 55,432.80 points and the top 40 1.07%. Banks were up 2.33% and financials 1.68%.
Blue Label Telecoms dropped 6.51% to R3.16 after the company said on Thursday that its headline earnings per share fell 339% to a loss of 312.49c in the year to end-May. The company said trading losses and debt issues at Cell C helped push it into a R6.6bn loss.
Capitec added 0.7% to R1,284.64. The bank said on Thursday that its HEPS increased 20% to 2,545c per share in the six months to end-August.
Investec Australia Property Fund was up 0.98% to R14.36. The company said on Thursday that it is seeking to raise about R849m through issuing 55-million new units.
Source: businesslive.co.za
