JSE on track for third day of gains as global mood improves
The JSE was on track for its third day of gains this week, tracking Asian markets as a move by the US to tackle the coronavirus outbreak lifted global market sentiment.
The US house of representatives approved an $8.3bn emergency fund to combat the virus on Wednesday. This comes as the death toll in China alone has surpassed 3,000 with more than 95,000 cases reported worldwide.
The rally in the US markets was also supported by US presidential candidate Joe Biden’s good performance in the Democratic primaries on Tuesday.
“Investors need to know that extreme volatility has become the new norm. We may continue to see daily moves of 2% to 4% in either direction until the dust settles.” said FXTM chief market strategist Hussein Sayed.
Earlier, the Shanghai Composite was up 1.99%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng 2.08% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 1.09%.
At 11.22am, the JSE all share added 0.63% to 53,257.71 points and the top 40 0.60%. Industrials were up 1.23% and platinum miners 0.65%.
Momentum Metropolitan Holdings said on Thursday that normalised headline earnings per share increased 12% to R1.20 in the six months to end-December. Its share price climbed 3.51% to R19.15.
Stadio Holdings said on Thursday that its student numbers increased 7% to 31,869 in the year to end-December and its group revenue rose 29% to R815m. Its share price was down 2.42% to R1.61.
Source: businesslive.co.za