MARKET WRAP: JSE closes weaker, as Naspers falls, but ends week higher

The JSE ended an upbeat week lower on Friday as the market braced itself for a number of risk events next week.

The US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of Japan are scheduled to have meetings next week, which are likely to increase market volatility.

The Fed is expected to raise rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday. Particular attention will be placed on the Fed’s views regarding a possible faster pace of policy normalisation. The ECB is set to announce that it will end its asset-purchase programme by the end of the year.

Heavyweight Naspers dragged the market down on Friday, closing lower for the first time in seven sessions.

The all share fell 0.29% to 58,223.70 points and the top 40 lost 0.3%. The platinum index dropped 1.62%, general retailers 0.72%, banks 0.59%, industrials 0.55%, and financials 0.41%. The gold index climbed 1.36% and resources 0.51%. The all share ended the week 1.64% higher.

Impala Platinum shed 3.33% to R22.05.

Standard Bank lost 0.86% to R204.62, while Sanlam rose 0.94% to R73.38.

Steinhoff International dropped 2.36% to R1.24, Redefine Properties 1.47% to R10.69, and Naspers 2.4% to R3,339.99.

The rand was at R13.0962 to the dollar on Friday evening, after weakening to a six-month low of R13.2871 in intra-day trade.

The rand has been on the back foot since the weaker-than-expected GDP data for the first quarter was released earlier in the week, reflecting a contraction of 2.2%. It has lost more than 6% on the dollar so far this year.

The local currency was also under pressure from negative sentiment toward most emerging-market currencies.

Fears about a higher pace of increases in interest rates from the Fed are always painfully perceived by emerging markets, FxPro analysts said. The Turkish lira dropped by 0.9% to the dollar on Friday, to its lowest level since February 2017. The rouble lost 0.6% to the dollar after a fall of 1.1% on Thursday.

The yield on the benchmark R186 bond rose above 9% on the day, before falling to 8.79% by the JSE’s close. The US 10-year was unchanged at 2.9217%.

The top 40 Alsi futures index lost 0.44% to 51,974 points. It ended the week 1.74% higher. The number of contracts traded was 25,464 from Thursday’s 25,464.