Banks, financials fail to lift JSE

The JSE closed flat on Thursday as gains by banking and financial shares were offset by losses among miners and rand hedges, with the rand managing only marginal gains on the day.

The JSE closed flat on Thursday as gains by banking and financial shares were offset by losses among miners and rand hedges, with the rand managing only marginal gains on the day.

The euro was firmer against the dollar as investors awaited the latest developments in the US-China trade dispute, while efforts to rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement continued.

US President Donald Trump was expected to announce the imposition of 25% tariffs on $200bn worth of Chinese imports later on Thursday. Trump also faced renewed controversies in the wake of a book by Bob Woodward describing chaotic policymaking conditions in the White House. An aide, in an anonymous article in The New York Times, describes him as “a president that continued to act in a manner that was detrimental to the health of our republic”.

The all share closed 0.05% higher at 57,130.50 points and the top 40 gained 0.12%. Banks rose 2.68%, financials 1.28%, food and drug retailers 0.48% and property 0.32%. Resources shed 1.05%.

Anglo American lost 1.38% to close at R302.

FirstRand gained 3.9% to R67.35. It said earlier that headline earnings per share (Heps) for the year rose 12%. Capitec softened 0.56% to R980.70 after informing the market that halfyear Heps are expected to increase 18%-21%.

Sanlam rose 0.17% to R76.75. It earlier reported normalised headline earnings were up 10% for the interim period to end-June.

The rand was at R15.3652/$ at the JSE’s close from R15.4235/$. It has been under pressure along with other emerging markets this week, with added pressure from news that SA is in a recession. Local focus has now turned to how the government will rein in its budget deficit, with the weaker rand reflecting concern that ratings agency Moody’s is more likely to downgrade SA’s debt to junk status.

Local bonds were a little firmer, with the benchmark R186 last bid at 9.195% from 9.22%. The US 10-year treasury was last seen at 2.8762% after touching 2.9022% earlier.

The top 40 Alsi futures index fell 0.09% to 50,697 points. The number of contracts traded was 23,285 from Wednesday’s 26,182.