The JSE jumped to a new all-time high just under 80 points shy of the 70,000-point level amid a field day for heavyweight industrial stocks.
Richemont raced over 10% to a record after the company reported first-half earnings that beat estimates and said it’s preparing to cede control of Yoox Net-A-Porter via a deal with web-shopping specialist Farfetch.
Naspers and Prosus, which have a combined weighting of 12% in the All Share index, both gained more than 4% as they tracked gains in Tencent amid growing optimism of a fresh lease of life for China’s beaten-down tech stocks. The Chinese behemoth, in which Naspers (+4.63%) holds a 29% stake through its subsidiary Prosus (4.13%), also quietly bought a 90% stake in a Japanese creative studio to gain a foothold in the growing anime and manga space and to diversify its revenue dependency away from its home base China.
Montauk Renewables, which was place second in the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies awards held last night, moved 7.56% higher after Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said in his inaugural Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement that the transition to renewable energy sources should be accelerated to ensure a stable energy supply and reduce the risk of load shedding. Renergen (+0.03%) was flat, but coal counter Thungela Resources tanked 6.41%.
Kumba Iron Ore (-1.92%) and sister company Angloplats (-6.46%), claimed first and third places respectively in the Top 100 Companies awards.
Meanwhile, Old Mutual (-0.98%) joined the ranks of Discovery (+0.72%), Sanlam (-0.86%), Life Healthcare (-2.04%) and Mediclinic (-1.13%) to make vaccinations against Covid-19 mandatory for all its employees in South Africa with effect from January.
Sasol lost 2.72% as Brent Crude ended the week down in its longest stretch of weekly losses since March. Other commodities were mixed, with gold and platinum down and palladium up, the metals last trading at $1,861, $1,077 and $2,082/oz respectively.
In the forex market, the rand currently trades in limbo after all the volatility from this week, says TreasuryONE. “We started the week with EMs mainly trading on the front foot, with the rand trading below 14.90 at one stage. We soon lost a fair amount of value versus the dollar. The R15.47/50 barrier held for the third time in a row and has become a crucial support level for the rand.
“Next week we have the MPC meeting and with the market pricing in a 25bps hike, a no-hike scenario could lead to the rand testing that cushion again. For now, we might stabilise around the R15.20-level as we await the monetary committee’s decision next week,” comments the forex trading house.
The local unit was last trading at R15.30/$ as the US unit continues to hold firm against its peers. The greenback – at 1.1445 against the euro and 1.34 against the pound – is at the strongest level it has been against a basket of currencies since August last year.
Indicators as at 17:00
Currencies
USDZAR 15.3043
EURUSD 1.1437
EURZAR 17.4983
GBPUSD 1.3390
GBPZAR 20.4933
AUDZAR 11.1772
CADZAR 12.1603
CNYZAR 2.3973
ZARJPY 7.4452
CHFZAR 16.5689
USDAOA 596.40
Bonds and equities
R186 8.03%
US 10 Year 1.56%
JSE 1.25%
FTSE 0.60%
S&P 500 0.06%
Commodities
Gold $1 858.51
Plat $1 075.30
Plad $2 068.43
Rhod $14 340.00
Irid $4 390.00
Ruth $608.00
Copp $9 854.35
Brent $82.17
Iron Ore 62.5% $93.63
Coal API4 $144.00
Gold ZAR R28 434.65
Plat ZAR R16 451.77
