The JSE joined its global peers trading firmer on Wednesday, following optimistic signs from the corporate earnings in the United States and comments by Federal Reserve officials.
Investors are waiting for the latest Fed comments for an indication as to whether the American central bank is open to slowing the pace of interest rate hikes.
Locally, inflation numbers surprised at 7.6% for October having been at 7.5% for the previous month. Economists widely expected inflation to print at 7.4% for October.
All eyes will be on the South African Reserve Bank monetary policy committee meeting, which concludes tomorrow – where the SARB is likely to hike interest rates by 75 basis points, bringing the repo rate to 7%.
In company news, Telkom (-2.26%) reported a 52% decline in headline earnings per share for the six months to end-September. The group cited mobile competition and higher costs for declines as group revenue dropped marginally by 0.7% to R21.2 billion.
During a results briefing, CEO Serame Taukobong said the telecoms company was still interested in discussing a merger with MTN, which briefly stemmed the tide of share price loss that hit the company after the release of the results.
Meanwhile, Telkom chair Sello Moloko resigned from the board and will leave no later than March 31, 2023. Telkom cited a heavy workload for Moloko’s decision to step down.
JSE heavyweight, Naspers (0.73%), said it believes the worst of its trading losses in unprofitable parts of the business are behind it after it reported a $1.1 billion drop in core headline earnings to $372 million for the six months to end-September.
Online retail group Takealot, which owns the clothing business Superbalist and e-hailing delivery service Mr Delivery, suffered a loss of R223 million for the six months to end-September.
