JSE up more than 2% as global markets rebound from risk-off gloom

The JSE rocketed more than 2% at the opening on Wednesday, as Naspers surged more than 9% on market views that the recent sell-offs in the market were overdone.

Industrials, banks and miners were the firm favourites on the last trading day of October, which has so far been a dismal month for global equity markets.

US markets set the scene on Tuesday, with the Dow closing 1.77% higher. Asian markets responded positively on Wednesday, with the Nikkei 225 gaining 2.16% and the Hang Seng 1.14%.

Naspers rose as Chinese internet company Tencent rebounded more than 4% in Hong Kong trade after having been pummeled by investors over the last few months, with Tencent losing more than 40% of is market value. On Tuesday, Naspers extended losses for 2018 to 30%.

Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said anxiety was still extremely evident in the markets and the next week was unlikely to calm that, with the jobs report, US Fed meeting and midterms in the US only adding to the uncertainty.

“We’ve seen recently that investor sentiment can quickly turn and those gains can be wiped out. I think there’s a few more scares to come before things settle down,” he said.

The all share is still 12.7% down in 2018 and 6.7% in the month.

“Our long-term outlook suggests an underweight position in South African equities with exposure to Asia, particularly to Naspers,” Nedbank analysts Neels Heyneke and Mehul Daya said.

The gold price was lower as risk appetite improved, losing 0.46% to $1,217.16 an ounce.

Brent crude rose 0.87% to $76.91 an ounce.

At 9.30am the all share was 2.33% higher at 51,938.80 points and the top 40 rose 2.55%. Industrials were up 3.43%, platinums 1.92%, resources 1.48%, banks 1.39%, general retailers 1.24% and financials 1.14%.

Anglo American was up 1.62% to R305.90.

Sasol rose 1.54% to R480.03.

Remgro firmed 0.65% to R188.28.

DRD Gold slipped 1.59% to R3.72. Gold production of 1,169kg or 37,572 ounces, was achieved for the quarter, tracking the guidance previously provided of between 148,000 ounces and 154,000 ounces for the 2019 financial year, the group said.

Impala Platinum rose 5.92% to R26.11. Tonnes milled at Rustenburg platinum increased by 5.6% in the quarter to end-September.

Standard Bank rose 1.5% to R165.94 and Absa 1.21% to R154.34.

Sanlam gained 1.93% to R73.29.

Shoprite rose 1.41% to R179.22.

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