JSE rebounds as rand pulls back from R14/$

The JSE bounced back on Wednesday after three days of losses as the rand firmed and Asian markets rose, despite a weak closing on the Dow.

Banks were the early leaders, while industrials gained on a upbeat opening from market heavyweight Naspers.

The rand firmed through the R13.70 level to the dollar on Wednesday, despite the euro remaining on the backfoot against the dollar, failing to gain traction above $1.16.

The rand was supported by slightly improved local consumer inflation data, coming in at 4.4% in May from 4.5% in the previous month.

Traders said sentiment was fragile with mostly bargain-hunters entering the market after US President Donald Trump indicated he would identify a new list of $200bn in Chinese goods that would be penalised with tariffs.

The details of the Trump administration’s threat to step up its trade conflict with China were not yet clear, Capital Economics analysts said.

“But one notable feature is that the market fallout for the emerging world has been greater than in previous episodes in which fears of protectionism have flared,” they said.

Brent crude was up 1.08% to $75.76 a barrel.

The Dow closed 1.15% lower on Tuesday. The Nikkei 225 was up 1.24% on Wednesday and the Hang Seng gained 0.84%.

At 10.01am the all share was 1.02% higher at 56,829.70 points and the top 40 added 1.1%. Banks were up 1.92%, industrials 1.12%, financials 0.74% and food and drug retailers 0.77%.

Anglo American gained 1.36% to R310.69.

British American Tobacco lifted 1.41% to R678.90.

Brait rose 1.61% to R39.12. It reported its latest net asset value per share at R57.32 on Tuesday. The group earlier wrote down the value of its New Look UK retail outfit to zero after buying it for R14.2bn in 2015.

Brait is 5% down in 2018 after losing 52.42% in 2017.

Among banks, FirstRand leapt 3.01% to R58.59 and Barclays Africa 1.76% to R157.73.

Shoprite added 1.53% to R224.

After falling 3% on Tuesday, Growthpoint rose 0.39% to R25.45. Resilient gained 1.18% to R55.80.

Vodacom shed 1.74% to R127.74.

Naspers rose 2.41% to R3,287.31.

Source: businesslive.co.za