The JSE gained almost 2% after bourse heavyweight Naspers strapped up its boots to claw back almost 8% as investors kept calm and bought on the dip after a two-day selloff in the tech giant.
Subsidiary Prosus, through which it has a 29% exposure to China’s tech woes, also stemmed the bleeding, gaining 6.86% on the day, despite a continued selloff, albeit smaller, in Tencent.
Anglo American subsidiary Kumba Iron Ore extended gains by 4.61% on continued optimism in the stock following record interim earnings and as the miner returned R23bn dividends to shareholders.
Implats, another Anglo unit, gained 2.69% after saying it expects annual headline earnings to be at least 20% higher, boosted by higher metals prices and increased output. Anglo American added 1.58%.
Diversified explosives and chemicals group AECI raced ahead 5.63% after announcing an 80% increase in its interim dividend to 180c a share on the back of “progress made in its recovery from the effects of Covid-19”.
Bytes Technology (+4.42%) also still generated interest after reporting a positive start to fiscal 2022 and betting on signs that corporate spending has picked up.
Losses were contained, with South32 (-.29%), Telkom (-1.77%), Santam (-1.31%) and PSG (-1.18%) among the biggest losers.
The rand lost some ground, last trading at R14.82 against the US dollar as the local unit’s focus turned to the US Federal Reserve’s FOMC meeting later tonight. “Depending on the tone of the press conference of Fed Chair Jerome Powell, it will give the rand new direction. In short: hawkish, bad for emerging markets; dovish, good for EMs,” reports TreasuryONE.
On the commodity front gold traded at $1,800/oz ahead of the FOMC meet, while platinum changed hands at $1,051/oz and palladium at $2,620. A dovish FOMC speech will give gold a nudge higher. Meanwhile, Brent Crude is trading on the front foot, last quoted at $74.53 a barrel.
Indicators as at 17:00
Currencies
USDZAR 14.8465
EURUSD 1.1797
EURZAR 17.5091
GBPUSD 1.3869
GBPZAR 20.5844
AUDZAR 10.8881
CADZAR 11.7972
CNYZAR 2.2855
ZARJPY 7.4154
CHFZAR 16.2332
USDAOA 639.75
Equities and bonds
R186 7.38%
US 10 Year 1.25%
JSE 1.45%
FTSE 0.22%
S&P 500 -0.07%
Commodities
Gold $1 800.50
Plat $1 051.69
Plad $2 624.99
Rhod $18 390.00
Irid $5 590.00
Ruth $748.00
Copp $9 697.15
Brent $74.73
Iron Ore 62.5% $214.99
Coal API4 $131.50
Gold ZAR R26 723.74
Plat ZAR R15 609.57
Indicators brought to you by TreasuryONE
Download the news aggregator app SAccess, available on Google Play and the App Store, to stay on top of business and market news from around the world.
