JSE up 1% in risk-on global trade

The JSE was up 1% in broad-based gains on Friday morning, with most global markets in the green, as fears over disruptive global trade conflict ebbed.

The announcement that the US and China would hold new trade talks on Wednesday has boosted global markets, with the rand gaining sharply on Thursday after Turkey’s central bank raised interest rate 6.5 percentage points.

The rand had held onto its gains on Friday morning, boosting retailers and banks. A softer dollar also helped support miners, who generally benefit from the increased demand for dollar-denominated commodities.

Naspers was up 2% to R3,224.94 in morning trade, now turning positive for the week. Naspers’s share price has recently fallen in sympathy with that of Hong Kong-listed associate Tencent, whose core gaming business is under regulatory scrutiny in China.

At 9.46am the all share was up 1.07% to 56,768.4 points and the top rose 40 1.19%. Industrials were up 1.02% and resources 1.32%.

Diversified miner Glencore had gained 1.78% to R58.83, Anglo American 1.86% to R296.75 and BHP 1.69% to R298.65.

Assore had dropped 3.33% to R320.32.

Rand hedge Anheuser-Busch InBev had risen 0.69% to R1,324.84 while British American Tobacco had fallen 0.4% to R714.61. Aspen Pharmacare was down 2.82% R225.52, extending a 15% drop on Thursday, when announced its sale of its infant-formula business to a French dairy company.

At the same time global markets were mostly firmer, with the Hong Kong Hang Seng up 1.04%. In Europe, the FTSE 100 was up 0.55%, the CAC 40 0.48% and the DAX 30 0.48%.

At the same time platinum had risen 0.82% to $810.86 an ounce and gold 0.59% to $1,208.40. Brent crude was 0.21% firmer at $78.49.