JSE rallies as a weaker dollar buoys the rand

The JSE reversed its losses on Friday morning while the rand clawed back as continued trade tensions and prospects of lower growth dragged down the greenback.

On Thursday, US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross said that the US and China were “miles and miles” from resolving trade issues.

Trade tension between the world’s two largest economies have spooked investors in recent weeks.

The government shutdown in the US has been going for more than a month — the longest on record. The US has also been dealt a blow as global growth concerns peaked this week after China reported its weakest growth in three decades, and the International Monetary Fund downgraded its forecasts for the global economy for this year and next.

Meanwhile, the Sun reported that Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party has privately decided to offer conditional backing for Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal next week, which led to the pound’s strengthening.

At about 10am, the JSE all share index was up 0.88% to 54,115.6 points and the top 40 was 1.06% higher. Industrials rose 0.71%, gold mining 0.81% and general retails 0.62%.

Fast-moving consumer goods group AVI was down 9.1% to R95 after it warned shareholders on Friday morning that its interim sales were flat and its headline earnings would fall up to 7%.

Invicta was down 5.71% to R34.52.

Rand hedge AB InBev was up 0.17% to R1022.01 while Long 4 Life rose 3.41% to R4.55.

Santam climbed 1.42% to R306.41 when it announced on Friday that it would effect a secondary listing of its shares, on the A2X Markets exchange.

Gold was higher at 0.25% at $1,284.41/oz and platinum was up 0.22% to $804.25.

At the same time, the rand was mixed. It was 0.02% stronger to the dollar at R13.6989/$, 0.03% weaker to the pound at R17.952/£ and 0.01% softer against the euro at R15.5147/€. The euro was 0.16% stronger at $1.1326.

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