MARKET WRAP: JSE ends positive week with another strong performance

After a slow start, the JSE closed higher on Friday, recording its biggest weekly gain since February 16.

Naspers had a stellar week, while miners gained on Friday on higher commodity prices. Banks and financials gained on improved risk sentiment amid indications that recent market weakness was overdone.

Naspers ended the week 11.2% higher, recovering more than double what it lost in the previous week as a result of disappointing quarterly results from Tencent.

The all share closed 1.02% higher at 58,797.70 points and the top 40 added 1.17%. The gold index rose 1.84%, food and drug retailers 1.79%, and industrials 1.34%. The all share ended the week 3.8% higher.

Positive corporate results next week could provide further support to the market, with the all share still 1.2% down in 2018.

Tuesday sees results from food producer RCL. The group expects growth in headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the year to end-June to be between 41.7% and 57.5%. On Friday, RCL closed 2.8% lower at R17.

Short-term insurer Santam is set to announce interim results on Thursday. It expects HEPS to end-June to come in 69% to 75% higher. On Friday, the share gained 0.2% to R304.

A number of property groups are also set to release results during the week. Interims from Nepi Rockcastle are due on Wednesday, while Growthpoint will release finals to end-June on the same day. The latter has issued guidance for dividend growth of between 5% and 6%. It is unlikely to better 2017’s total return of 14.4%, as the share price is down 6% in 2018.

Hyprop’s finals to end-June are expected on Friday. After December’s interim results, the group upped its expected distribution growth to 8% to 10% from the 7% to 9% it predicted in September 2017.

Private-sector credit extension data for July is due on Thursday, but is unlikely to be a market mover. Producer price inflation (PPI), also due on the day, is forecast to be in line with June’s 5.9%.

The rand was at R14.3108 to the dollar from R14.4082, while the benchmark R186 government bond was bid at 8.900% from 8.935%.

The top 40 Alsi futures index added 1.42% to 52,699 points. It ended the week 4.41% higher. The number of contracts traded was 25,696 from Thursday’s 22,478.