JSE remains flat as Naspers offsets other gains

The JSE was little changed on Wednesday with the main event the long-awaited listing of MultiChoice, Naspers's subscription TV service.

MultiChoice's share price was at R106.50 in early trade, giving the group a market capitalisation of R46.7bn.

At 10am Naspers was down 3.57% to R3,029.56.

Analysts expect MultiChoice to make it relatively easily into the JSE’s top-40 index, and most valuations had ranged from from about R50bn to R90bn.

Naspers unbundled the pay-TV asset with no reference price, meaning traders are still trying to determine its fair value.

There are few major international catalysts operating in the market on Wednesday morning, although some focus is on the UK, where parliamentarians will debate the progress on Brexit negotiations with the EU.

The US-North Korea summit could also generate headlines. US president Donald Trump is meeting his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-un. Parties may agree a framework for economic co-operation and denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

The all share flat was at 56,281.8 points and the top 40 was little changed. Gold miners were up 1.07%. Banks were down 0.62% and industrials 0.14%.

Gold was down 0.18% to $1,326.63/oz while platinum had added 0.16% to $863.45. Brent crude was 0.18% lower at $65.51 a barrel.

Gold miners were given some support on Tuesday night by a softer dollar. US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell had retained his dovish tone during testimony before Congress, although analysts said there were few major surprises in Powell's comments.

Diversified miner Anglo American was up 1.28% to R374.55.

Nepi Rockcastle had fallen 1.51% to R124.97. It said the total value of its property portfolio had grown 20% to €5.9bn in the year to end-December. Distributable earnings per share had grown 9.5% to €48.26c compared to the corresponding period in 2017.