Another blow to Chinese tech giant Tencent hit JSE heavyweights Naspers and Prosus, helping the local bourse to a negative 0.86% close.
Naspers, which has a 29% exposure to Tencent through its subsidiary Prosus slumped 3.01% and the latter 3.51% after the Chinese government, in a dramatic escalation of restrictions on the gaming sector, announced it will be limiting the amount of time children can play video games to just three hours most weeks.
Bloomberg reports the escalating restrictions on the lucrative gaming business are likely to spook investors who had cautiously returned to Chinese stocks in recent days, exploring bargains after a raft of regulatory probes into areas from online commerce to data security and ride-hailing ignited a trillion-dollar selloff in past months.
Rand-hedges such as Richemont (-2.89%) slipped on a stronger rand, with the unit strengthening to below R14.60 against the US dollar in intraday trade before settling at around R14.64/$ at local markets close.
In a reversal of fortune for the rand and other emerging market currencies from the last couple of weeks, the local unit enjoyed the tailwinds of favourable risk conditions currently in the market, comments TreasuryONE.
The forex trading house expects the local currency to run out steam towards the end of the week ahead of the US non-farm payroll number. “The trend is your friend in the short term, and we could see the rand make a run at the R14.50 level should the sentiment continue, but gains could become more difficult as the elastic continues to stretch,” says TreasuryONE.
Mining counters were mixed, tracking a mixed performance in the commodities market with gold and platinum last trading slightly in the red at $1,812 and $1,004 respectively, while palladium added 2% to last trade at $2,467.
Gold Fields (-3.03%) and Angloplat (-2.42%) lost while South32 (+2.25%) and Exxaro (+1.60%) gained.
Transport logistics group Super Group surged 5.05% following a sterling set of results despite ongoing macroeconomic challenges and tough trading conditions in several key markets and industry sectors.
Blue Label Telecoms gained 3.43% after suspending two executives, pending an investigation.
MTN added 0.13% in volatile trade after shares in the mobile operator’s Ghanaian unit almost doubled this year. Peer Vodacom added 1.28%
Retail counters also had a good run, with Truworths gaining 1.60% and Pepkor 1.39%.
Other big losers were real estate investment trust Stenprop (-4.60%) and renewable energy play Montauk (-3.51%).
Indicators as at 17:00
Currencies
USDZAR 14.6019
EURUSD 1.1796
EURZAR 17.2192
GBPUSD 1.3758
GBPZAR 20.0832
AUDZAR 10.6518
CADZAR 11.5927
CNYZAR 2.2569
ZARJPY 7.5247
CHFZAR 15.9309
USDAOA 633.26
Equities and bonds
R186 7.31%
US 10 Year 1.29%
JSE -0.86%
FTSE 0.32%
S&P 500 0.50%
Commodities
Gold $1 810.51
Plat $1 003.99
Plad $2 476.21
Rhod $17 390.00
Irid $5 190.00
Ruth $723.00
Copp $9 423.60
Brent $72.76
Iron Ore 62.5% $159.68
Coal API4 $141.00
Gold ZAR R26 426.57
Plat ZAR R14 654.44
