JSE opens higher as Naspers rebounds on better Tencent

The JSE opened firmer on Friday as Naspers bounced back on an upbeat showing by Chinese internet company Tencent, in Hong Kong trade.

The all share was above 57,000 points again, the same level at which it started the week before it dipped below 56,000 points in the middle of the week.

Tencent was up 3% on the day after falling sharply earlier in the week on disappointing quarterly results. Naspers gained 2.57% to R3,226.92.

Naspers’s gains lifted the whole market, with banks and financials higher despite a weaker rand trading at R14.70 to the dollar. Resources and platinums were higher.

There are indications that the trade spat between China and the US could be solved through more talks. The Turkish lira has stabilised at firmer levels, erasing all the losses earlier in the week, which has lessened concerns about the exposure of European banks to further Turkish contagion.

Turkey’s attempts to stabilise its embattled financial markets have borne some fruit this week, sparking a relief rally in the lira, but investors are still looking for ways to hedge against any new shocks, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

The Dow closed 1.58% higher on Thursday, amid solid earnings, with Walmart jumping 9% after beating expectations. The Nikkei 225 gained 0.35%, and the Hang Seng 0.24%, but the Shanghai Composite shed 1.34%.

Brent crude was largely unchanged at $71.47 a barrel.

At 9.40am the all share was 0.83% higher at 57,032.10 points and the top 40 had gained 0.95%. Industrials rose 1.16%, platinums 0.74%, resources 0.63%, banks 0.53% and financials 0.37%. The gold index shed 2%.

Anglo American rose 0.7% to R288.40.

Sasol added 0.99% to R526.75.

Gold Fields lost 3.95% to R36.02 and Harmony 4.48% to R21.33.

Standard Bank firmed 0.37% to R187.87 after reporting on Thursday interim headline earnings to end-June rose 5% to R12.6bn.

Steinhoff International dived 5.58% to R1.86.

Resilient rose 1.66% to R59.36 and Nepi Rockcastle dropped 0.35% to R125.04 among property stocks.

Tiger Brands dropped a further 5.31% to R282.50 after releasing a disappointing trading update on Thursday, expecting its annual earnings to end-September to plunge between 22% and 37%.

City Lodge was up 0.39% to R135 after reporting on Thursday that net profit fell 5% for the year to end-June.

Famous Brands lost 1.41% to R98.89 after warning shareholders to exercise caution in trading the group’s shares. On Thursday, it warned that losses at its UK operations had increased.

Source: businesslive.co.za