JSE on track for best month in over a year

The JSE was higher on Friday morning, with retailers and banks benefiting from a firmer rand, with the all share looking set to have its best month since April 2018.

The local bourse has benefited in June from dovish US Federal Reserve commentary, and markets have now priced in a 100% chance of the Fed cutting interest rates in July.

Gold miners have led the gains, with the JSE gold index up almost a quarter in June, which would be its best performance in three years.

Gold has firmed and the dollar has weakened as the market prices in Fed rate cuts. Gold is seen as a hedge against loose monetary policy.

At 10.02am the all share had risen 0.23% to 58,201.3 points and the top 40 0.26%. Industrials were up 0.51% and general retailers 1.01%.

Gold was up 0.43% to $1,415.83/oz and platinum 0.19% and $815.97. Brent crude was down 0.12% to $66.30 a barrel.

Asian markets were mixed, with Japan’s Nikkei up 1.19%, while the Shanghai Composite was down 0.6%.

All eyes are on the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Japan this weekend, with US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping set to meet on Saturday to discuss trade issues. The US-China trade war has been a dominant factor in global markets for over a year, and any developments at the meeting could prompt volatility in the rand.

Diversified miner Glencore had added 3.6% to R47.76.

Brait was down 3.43% to R18.60.

Mr Price had added 1.94% to R199.98.

Naspers had firmed 1.05% to R3,405.10.

Basil Read was unchanged at 4c. The company, which went into business rescue in June 2018, said on Friday it had retrenched staff, reduced the size of its board and moved out of its Johannesburg head office.

At about 10.22am Tiso Blackstar Group had jumped 27.27% to R4.20, a five-month high. The publisher of Business Day, the Sunday Times, Sowetan and other titles, said after markets closed on Thursday it had sold its print, broadcasting and content businesses in SA, Ghana and Kenya to Lebashe Investment Group for R1.05bn. 

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