Banks lift all share to firmer close

The JSE all share closed higher on Wednesday on banks and financials, as general retailers retreated in riskoff trade, with a number of the big players hard hit.

Massmart closed 4.06% lower at R102.64, Truworths 2.68%, at R69.40 and Mr Price 1.62%, at R152.33.

In contrast, food and drug retailers closed firmer on the day, with Pick n Pay gaining 0.52%, to R57.50.

A shift between the two asset classes has become noticeable, with general retailers losing 10% so far in 2017, but food and drug retailers increasing 10%.

The all share closed 0.32% up at 51,596.80 points, with resources gaining 0.96%. Banks were up 0.9% and financials added 0.83%.

Gold shares led the declines among the miners following reaffirmation by US Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen, in a speech on Tuesday, of the Fed’s hawkish stance, but that the hiking process is set to be gradual.

The gold index closed 3.24% lower and platinum lost 1.37%.

AngloGold Ashanti lost 4.29% to R132.23 after saying it might retrench 8,500 workers. BHP was the star performer among the global miners, gaining 1.99% to R197.65. Anglo American rose 1.58%, to R170.55.

Naspers was under pressure after management quelled speculation it was considering unbundling its Chinese Tencent investment. Having given back all of Friday’s gains, when it reported annual results, Naspers was down 1.07%, to R2,580.

Standard Bank rose 1.67% to close at R144.50 and Nedbank added 1.16%, to R210.50, but Barclays Africa lost 0.34%, to R145.59.

The rand was firmer in early evening trade, trading at R12.9588/$, from R13.0151/$ .

Bonds were weaker despite the marginally firmer rand. The R186 was bid at 8.665%, from 8.58%.

Futures tracked the firmer JSE, with the local near-dated top 40 Alsi futures index up 0.52% at 45,859 points. The number of contracts traded was 19,121, from Tuesday’s 45,622.