The JSE closed lower on Friday‚ in line with weaker global markets‚ as market heavyweight Naspers extended its losses.
The all share ended the week down for the first time in nine sessions‚ its worst weekly performance since June. This was mainly due to a rand rally that followed last week’s S&P Global Ratings downgrade‚ which put pressure on rand hedges.
Naspers ended the day 4.23% lower at R3‚531.62‚ registering its largest weekly decline in 2017. This followed a 3% drop in Tencent‚ of which Naspers owns a significant share.
Naspers is also under pressure due to allegations its pay-TV division MultiChoice paid bribes to influence the government’s communications policies. Naspers has described the allegations as “spurious or even malicious”.
The all share closed 0.54% lower at 59‚499.40 and the blue-chip top 40 shed 0.72%. The gold index lost 1.32%‚ industrials 1.09%‚ and property 0.27%.
General retailers gained 2.73%‚ food and drug retailers 1.74%‚ banks 0.92%‚ and platinums 0.34%.
The all share ended the week 1.45% lower; it is up 17.36% for the year.
Sasol rose 0.47% to R432. Brent crude jumped 2.11% to $64 a barrel. This followed Thursday’s announcement by oil cartel Opec that current production cuts would be extended to the end of 2018.
Richemont added 1.67% to R118.98.
Harmony retreated 2.38% to R24.62 and AngloGold Ashanti 2.26% to R139.57.
Standard Bank gained 1.42% to R175.45 and Barclays Africa 1.41% to R160.
Niche financial group Sygnia shed 3.57% to R13.79. The group reported on the day that basic and headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the year to end-September grew 25.1% to 69.72c‚ at the upper end of its recent guidance.
Massmart gained 4.48% to R117.29‚ Shoprite 2.23% to R232.92‚ and Pick n Pay 4.34% to R66.41.
Education group Advtech lost 3.99% to R15.65 after restating recent results after uncovering financial fraud within the group.
At 5.30pm‚ the Dow had lost 0.1% to 24‚247.81 points‚ while European markets were mixed. The FTSE 100 was up 0.20%‚ while the DAX 30 was off 0.30% and the CAC 40 0.08%.
Platinum had fallen 0.87% to $932.82 an ounce and gold 0.13% to $1‚272.99. Brent crude was up 2.17% to $64.04 a barrel.
The top-40 Alsi futures index fell 0.35% to 53‚317 points‚ losing 1.84% in the week. The number of contracts traded was 22‚774 from Thursday’s 22‚850. – Business Day
By: Karl Gernetzky
Source: TMG Digital.
