MARKET WRAP: JSE lower as retailer slump continues
The JSE fell on Monday, in cautious trade, as investors waited for fresh catalysts, with corporate news giving the market much of its direction.
The rand was softer, extending losses it suffered over the weekend, and putting pressure on banks and retailers. The local currency is, however, expected to remain range-bound over the next few days.
Global sentiment was dented a little by disappointing Chinese data, with a private gauge of services activity for January undershooting market expectations.
Local gold miners fared worst, while the general retailers index lost almost 4%. The latter lost 5.66% in January, following a spate of disappointing earnings reports.
On Monday, the all share lost 1% to 53,391.8 points and the top 40 1.08%. Gold miners fell 3.81%, general retailers 3.95% and banks 2.88%. Platinum miners added 2.45%, mostly due to a strong performance from Impala Platinum (Implats).
Implats jumped 7.92% to R41.82, after earlier reporting a 19% growth in platinum sales for the six months to end-December. The company expects to return to profitability during the period, with headline earnings of at least R2.1bn, or 292c per share, compared with the prior period’s R150m loss (21c per share).
Lonmin added 9.83% to R10.50.
MTN fell 2.54% to R85.86, despite saying earlier it expects to report headline earnings per share (HEPS) growth of at least 20% in the year to end-December.
Clover jumped 15.05% to R23.01, having said earlier it had received a buyout offer. Milco International’s offer of R25 per share represents a 25% premium on Clover’s closing share price of R20 on Friday.
AngloGold Ashanti gave up 5.08% to R180.34 despite the company saying it expects a more than seven-fold surge in HEPS for the year to end-December. Basic earnings are expected to rise to between $129m and $137m, after the previous comparative period’s basic loss of $191m.
Shortly after the JSE closed the Dow had fallen 0.14% to 25,028.43 points. In Europe, the FTSE 100 had gained 0.14%, while the CAC 40 had fallen 0.7% and the DAX 30 0.41%.
At the same time, gold was down 0.48% to $1,311.82 an ounce and platinum 0.8% to $818.85. Brent crude had fallen 1.73% to $61.75 a barrel.
Global trade was subdued by the Chinese Lunar New Year, with markets in that country closed all week.
There are few local data releases to give the market direction this week.
US President Donald Trump’s state of the union address on Tuesday is being closely watched, as is President Cyril Ramaphosa’s state of the nation address on Thursday. The latter may give further details on how the state plans to reign in overspending and tackle corruption.
Source: businesslive.co.za