MARKET WRAP: JSE remains flat as miners gain and banks fall
The JSE fell on Wednesday, with Naspers posting a sharp drop following the separate listing of its pay-TV service.
MultiChoice closed 11% higher at R106.01, giving the group a market capitalisation of about R46bn.
Naspers fell 3.98% to R3,017, giving up about R53bn of its market capitalisation.
Analysts expected MultiChoice to make it relatively easily into the JSE’s top 40 index, and most valuations had ranged from from about R50bn to R90bn.
Naspers unbundled the pay-TV asset with no reference price.
Investec Plc, which closed 0.52% higher at R91.38, now looks set to drop out of the top 40 index.
Gold miners pushed higher, despite the prospect of a damaging strike across the sector. Ten mining houses, including AngloGold Ashanti, Harmony Gold and Village Main Reef, went to court on Wednesday to try to stop the strike, which is set to begin on Thursday evening.
The all share rose 0.1% to 56,298 points while the top 40 fell 0.02%. Banks lost 0.87% and industrials 0.23%. Platinums added 1.8% and the resources index 1.34%.
Gold was down 0.45% to $1,323.17/oz while platinum was up 0.54% to $866.72. Brent crude was flat at $65.62 a barrel.
International focus was on a US-North Korean summit, while there were further signs indicating that a no-deal Brexit would be avoided. Reports suggested that rebellious members of UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s party were now ready to back her deal in a vote on March 12.
Economic news expected to be released on Thursday includes producer inflation, as measured by the annual change in the producer price index. PPI is expected to rise 5% in January, according to a consensus on macroeconomics website Trading Economics.
Balance of trade figures for January are also due, with economists expecting a deficit of about R12bn.
Diversified miner Glencore added 2.71% to R57.21 and Anglo American 2.49% to R379.
Steinhoff International gained 0.47% to R2.16. It said earlier it had delayed publication of its restated financial results for 2017 and 2018 by just over a month. These are now expected by the end of May.
Nepi Rockcastle fell 5.04% to R120.50. This is despite its saying the total value of its property portfolio had grown 20% to €5.9bn in the year to end-December. Distributable earnings per share grew 9.5% to 48.26 euro cents compared to the corresponding period in 2017.
Advanced Health was unchanged at 75c. It said earlier it expected a headline loss per share of 6.21c for the year to end-December, a 27% improvement from the prior comparative period.
Shortly after the JSE closed the Dow had lost 0.23% to 26,000.57 points, while in Europe, the FTSE 100 had fallen 0.63%, the DAX 30 0.31% and the CAC 40 0.18%,
Source: businesslive.co.za
