MARKET WRAP: JSE closes lower for a second day

The JSE closed in negative territory on Thursday for a second  consecutive day as investors worry about global economic growth, while markets await labour data from the US. 

Markets will be watching US non-farm payrolls for September, which will be released  on Friday. The data is considered an important indicator of the health of the US economy after poor manufacturing data earlier this week fueled concerns of an economic slowdown. 

The US announced on Wednesday that it would impose 10% tariffs on European-made Airbus planes over illegal EU aircraft subsidies. This follows the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) approval for the US to impose duties on $7.5bn worth of EU goods. 

Shortly after the JSE closed, the Dow was flat at 26,093.43  points. In Europe, the FTSE 100 lost 0.89%  and France’s CAC 40 0.11% while Germany’s DAX 30 was closed for German Unity Day. Earlier, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.37% while Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 2.01%.

Locally, the Standard Bank purchasing managers’ index fell to 49.2 points in September from 49.7 in August, data showed on Thursday.

At 5.17pm, the rand firmed 1.06% to R15.1299/$, 0.84% to R16.6185/€ and 0.27% to R18.7568/£. The euro strengthened  0.22% to $1.0984. 

“The rand is still lagging its emerging-market peers and markets will be looking out for the medium-term budget policy statement before we possibly see a bigger recovery,” said TreasuryONE senior currency dealer Andre Botha.

Gold added 0.6% to $1,508.76/oz and platinum 0.56% to $892.76. Brent crude was down 0.24% to $57.3  a barrel. 

The JSE all share fell 0.51% to 53,727.3 points and the top 40 0.54%. Resources dropped 0.69% while gold miners climbed 2.53%. 

The firmer rand put some pressure on rand hedges: British American Tobacco fell 2.25% to R523.77, Richemont 1.99% to R104.50 and AB InBev 1.63% to R1,372.20. 

Brait gained 1.81% to R15.22. The investment company announced on Thursday that billionaire Christo Wiese has appointed former head of RMB’s global corporate finance business, Paul Roelofse, as his alternate on the company’s board, replacing his son Jacob Wiese.

Vunani jumped 16.67% to R2.10. The company said on Thursday that it expected basic earnings per share and headline earnings per share (HEPS) to decrease between 21.2% and 41.2%, to between 9.2c and 12.4c, in the six months to end-August. The fund manager said the decrease is attributable to the declining performance of its commodities trading businesses.

Datatec fell 1.33% to R32.65. The IT company said on Thursday that it expected its HEPS to more than double in the six months to end-August to between 2 US cents and 2.5 US cents.

Zeder fell 0.65% to R4.62. The company said on Thursday that it expected its HEPS to have fallen as much as 93.4% in the six months to end-August, to between 2c and 2.8c

Food and beverage company, Clover will de-list from the JSE on Wednesday after the Competition Tribunal approved a R4.8bn takeover of the company by consortium Milco in September. Its share price was little changed at R24.83.

- BusinessLIVE