The JSE leaped 1.19% to 68,587.27 points in a busy corporate news day, with helium producer Renergen leading the charge.
The emerging helium and natural gas producer surged as much as 18% in intraday trade before ending the day at a still substantial 14.88% after the dual-listed group reported an over 600% increase in methane and helium reserves at its flagship Virginia gas project, in South Africa.
For JSE heavyweights Naspers (+3.34%) and subsidiary Prosus (+2.86%), their shareholding in Tencent paid off after the Chinese tech giant gained after unveiling its first chips in its push beyond online content.
Redefine Properties (+8.30%) was another big gainer following an upbeat trade update.
BHP gained 1.34% after the diversified miner said in a note to shareholders it was in discussions with Andrew Forrest’s Wyloo Metals regarding its potential support for BHP’s takeover offer for TSX-V listed Noront Resources.
Investors also cheered Anglo American’s (+2.43%) appointment of Duncan Wanblad as a replacement for Mark Cutifani, and the group’s transparency regarding Wanblad’s remuneration. Cutifani will retire as CE and step down from the board at the group’s AGM in April next year after nine years at the helm.
Mr Price gained 2.96% after saying in a trade update it expects profits to rise by between 30% and 40% in the six months to October 2. The retailer said profits have rebounded from the hard lockdown last year, but the July looting of 111 of its stores impacted earnings. Drug retailer Dis-Chem added 5.56% after posting a 35.3% jump in headline earnings per share and said it will declare a dividend of 19.5c a share.
Other top gainers included Exxaro (+4.93%), Massmart (+4.78%) and Telkom (+4.36%).
Old Mutual were among the biggest losers, dropping 13.78% after former CEO Peter Moyo in a longstanding feud returned to court to apply to have 13 current and former non-executive directors, including Trevor Manuel, declared delinquents in terms of the companies act and be jailed for as long as six months, reports Business Day.
On the forex front, the rand has been under pressure for most of the day, with all emerging market currencies on the backfoot ahead of tonight’s US Federal Reserve’s FOMC meeting. The local unit tested R15.49 in intraday trade after trading as strong as R15.32 in volatile trade following the local municipal elections. In late afternoon trade the unit stabilised to last trade at R15.41 against the US dollar. “The local unit has done over R1.00 to the dollar now over the course of just two weeks, and a break above the R15.50 mark will leave us open for further losses,” comments TreasuryONE.
In the commodities market, metals were under pressure, with gold last trading 1.36% weaker at $1,762.70, palladium down 0.91% at $1,996.20 and platinum 0.82% weaker at $1,032.46.
Brent Crude also slipped, last trading down 2.09% at $82.33 a barrel. Sasol held firm, gaining 0.96%.
Indicators as at 17:00
Currencies
USDZAR 15.4714
EURUSD 1.1574
EURZAR 17.9013
GBPUSD 1.3661
GBPZAR 21.1292
AUDZAR 11.4872
CADZAR 12.4461
CNYZAR 2.4150
ZARJPY 7.3711
CHFZAR 16.9481
USDAOA 596.40
Bonds and equities
R186 8.27%
US 10 Year 1.56%
JSE 0.77%
FTSE -0.24%
S&P 500 -0.06%
Commodities
Gold $1 762.70
Plat $1 023.50
Plad $1 999.89
Rhod $14 090.00
Irid $4 490.00
Ruth $618.00
Copp $9 824.90
Brent $82.40
Iron Ore 62.5% $99.40
Coal API4 $120.00
Gold ZAR R27 263.33
Plat ZAR R15 830.27
