Beijing’s reopening following a string of Covid-19 lockdowns has lifted market sentiment as trader’s cheered the move with the JSE lifting along with its global peers.
China will continue to lift restrictions this week after it announced at the end of last month that it had surging coronavirus cases under control.
The local bourse added 0.28% with the All Share Index closing at 71,120.09 points.
In company news, DStv owner Multichoice (-1.68%) said via a trading update that it was finalising its financial results for the year ended March 2022 with trading profit expected to be between 0% and 3% higher.
The group attributed the increase in trading profit to “sustained subscriber growth, the recovery in advertising revenue and a continued focus on cost control across the business.”
Retailer Woolworths (-0.13%) said it would rollout 75 electric vehicles across its food delivery business in Johannesburg, Durban, and Cape Town as it seeks to meet its ambitions nett zero carbon emissions goal by 2040.
The electric vehicle rollout is in partnership with global logistics provider DSV and the Everlectric vehicle charging station provider.
Meanwhile, retail peers Spar (0.46%) and Pick ‘n Pay added 0.46% and 0.49% respectively, while Shoprite lost 0.68% on Monday.
In the currency markets, the Rand was on the front foot today and is currently trading over one per cent stronger against the US Dollar.
“Our local currency tested a break below the R15.30 mark but has given back some ground.
What is interesting about the move in the Rand is that other EM’s have not rallied at all today while the Dollar is trading flat against most of its counterparts,” comments TreasuryONE.
“This just confirms that the move is due to something local and could be some flows passing through our local market,” added the forex trading house.
On the commodity front, gold is slightly down today while platinum and palladium are both on the up.
Gold is currently trading at $1,847 while platinum and palladium are trading close to 1.5% higher.
“The move seen in metals did start during the Asian trading session today, with specific areas in China starting to open after strict lockdowns.
Looking at the board, we see platinum quoted at $1,029, palladium at $2,006 while copper is back above $9,700,” says TreasuryONE.
Brent crude is hovering just below $120 per barrel at the time of writing.
