MARKET WRAP: JSE rebounds, led by miners and Naspers

The JSE pushed higher on Wednesday, more than recovering from Tuesday’s fall, despite signs of further monetary-policy tightening in the eurozone.

Earlier in the day the rand was weaker, extending Tuesday’s losses. This lifted most miners, despite a late recovery by the local unit, as commodities were buoyed by a weaker outlook for the dollar.

Global sentiment was hurt a little by hawkish commentary from European Central Bank officials, who hinted that they may announce further reductions to the bank’s bond-purchasing programme as soon as next week.

Euro strength weighed on the dollar, making commodities more attractive to those purchasing in other currencies.

Banks were firmer, although financial stocks fell.

Focus for the rest of the week is now expected to shift to global factors, analysts said, notably the G7 meeting in Canada, which begins on Friday.

The Dow was sharply higher with the Nasdaq reaching another record high on the day. US equities were driven by tech stocks, notably Tesla, which said earlier it was on track to reach its electric-vehicle production targets.

The all share closed 0.52% higher at 58,081.90 points and the top 40 added 0.63%. The platinum index lifted 1.7%, resources 1.16% and industrials 0.82%. Food and drug retailers lost 0.67% and financials 0.64%.

Anglo American pared strong earlier gains but still closed 1.38% higher at R322.34.

Impala Platinum lifted 5.44% to R21.72, after announcing increased opportunities at its Zimplats operations.

Sanlam plummeted 6.25% to R75.50, despite earlier reporting that normalised headline earnings per share rose 5% in the four months of 2018.

Naspers was up 2.69% to R3,385.56, the fifth consecutive day of gains for the market heavyweight.

Netcare gained 0.65% to R29.30, after saying earlier it had gained Competition Tribunal approval to acquire Benoni’s Lakeview Hospital.

Harmony Gold slumped 8.59% to R19.80, after saying it had completed an issuance of 55-million shares, at a discount of 11.7% on Tuesday’s closing price.

At 5.40pm the Dow was up 0.68% to 24,968.90 points, while in Europe, the FTSE 100 had gained 0.28% and the DAX 30 0.21%, while the CAC 40 was 0.25% lower.

At the same time, platinum had risen 0.35% to $905.99 and ounce and gold 0.27% to $1,299.81. Brent crude was flat at $74.96 a barrel.

The top 40 Alsi futures index gained 0.79% to 51,954 points. The number of contracts traded was 19,545 from Tuesday’s 23,475.