After losing ground on Monday, the JSE was chugging along nicely in noon trade on Tuesday, driven by positive global markets. Advancers outnumbered decliners on the all-share index by more than two to one.
By 12.02pm, the all-share and all-share indices had added 0,32% and 0,87% respectively. Resources were flat (+0,01%), with the gold-mining index gaining 0,51%, but the platinum-mining index surrendering 0,29%. Financials inched up 0,06%, while the banks index eked out a 0,04% gain.
The rand was bid at 7,26 per dollar, little changed from when the JSE closed on Monday, while gold was quoted at $624,55 a troy ounce from $623,60/oz at the JSE’s last close.
“The market is looking a lot better,” a dealer said. “There was good demand on the Nikkei and Hang Seng, although the Hang Seng came off its highs. The Dow was up and the FTSE is also stronger. Global markets across the board are looking good and we are taking our cue from that.”
He added that gold shares had performed well in New York overnight.
“They pushed Gold Fields even with the gold price not performing at all. I think they overdid [the selling] the previous day — Gold Fields was down almost 5% on Friday.”
The dealer noted that Monday’s solid results from Lewis had sparked interest in retailers.
Cellular network operator MTN Group was again dominating trade and led the JSE’s upside. Having traded at a record high of R75,10, MTN shares were 2,6% or R1,90 in the black at R74,90.
Media group Naspers notched up 2,11% or R3,01 to a lifetime high of R146.
Telkom, however, lost 1,58% or R2,20 to R137,30.
Consumer goods group AVI advanced 1,83% or 35c to R19,50. It earlier traded at a new high of R19,65.
Brand management group Barloworld was 1,37% or R1,85 better at R136,85, services group Bidvest firmed 1,46% or R1,70 to R118,50 and transport and logistics group Imperial picked up 1,25% or R1,90 to R153,40.
Lewis leaped 2,93% or R1,70 to R59,70, JD Group jumped 2,87% or R2,30 to R82,50 and Ellerine rallied 2,76% or R2,06 to R76,74.
Lewis on Monday reported normalised headline earnings per share (HEPS) of 278c for the six months ended September, representing a 26,5% improvement on the 219,7c reported at the interim stage last year.
On an IFRS basis, HEPS increased by 73,1%, also to 278c from a comparable 160,6c.
An interim dividend of 116c was declared, up 31,8% from last year’s interim dividend of 88c per share.
Swiss-listed luxury goods group Richemont (RCH) was up 1,25% or 46c at R37,12.
Among resources, London-listed Anglo American inched up 55c to R336, but BHP Billiton weakened 75c to R135.
AngloGold Ashanti added 1,56% or R4,91 to R319,51 and Gold Fields gained 53c to R127,99, but Harmony shed 91c to R111,08.
AngloPlat was off R4 at R829, while Impala dipped 45c to R177.
On the financial front, Sanlam climbed 14c to R17,56, but London-listed Old Mutual was 17c softer at R23,75.
Banking group FirstRand fell 10c to R19,40, but Absa added 50c to R113 and Nedbank was 90c in the black at R124,40.
Nedbank said before the opening that its headline earnings per share for the nine months to the end of September had grown by 39,1% to 801c compared with 576c for the previous comparative period. — I-Net Bridge