JSE continues recovery position

The JSE continued its recovery on Monday, brushing off the cautious tone on world markets, ahead of an apparently busy week.

The local bourse benefited from a four-day global stock rally last week, enjoying its own correction as it recovered from a slump in September and October. Analysts say the JSE could push higher as this technical correction continues.

The all share added 1.19% to 54,915.7 points and the top 40 rose 1.24%. Food and drug retailers rose 2.88%, gold miners 2.55%, banks 1.54% and industrials 1%.

Governance at state-owned enterprises was in focus , but most attention was on international developments. Comments from White House officials at the weekend cooled expectations the US and China were moving towards a swift resolution of their trade dispute.

Weak Chinese data also served to dull the mood in early trade.

The calendar is full this week, with the US Federal Reserve making an announcement on monetary policy on Thursday and the US midterm elections taking place on Tuesday.

JSE retailers performed well, despite news there would be no petrol-price decrease on Wednesday. The market also seemingly brushed off a higher oil price as the JSE closed, though the price of Brent crude earlier was lower for much of the session.

This was despite the start of US sanctions on Iran over its foreign policy and nuclear programme. The US has granted temporary relief for eight countries that import oil from Iran, allowing them additional time to secure alternatives.

Shortly after the JSE closed Brent crude was up 1.15% at $73.38 a barrel. Sasol added 2.64% to R491.08.

Diversified miner BHP gained 1.7% to R303.19, while Glencore lost 0.66% to R60.13. ArcelorMittal jumped 10.2% to R4.32, having said earlier it had finalised the sale of its 50% interest in Macsteel. Rand hedge British American Tobacco gained 1.92% to R638, while Richemont lost 2% to R106.60.

TFG firmed 0.89% to R170, ahead of interim results to end-August on Thursday. The company has indicated its performance is within guidance. Shoprite gained 4.48% to R196.55. MTN rose 4.71% to R89.53 and Vodacom 3.99% to R132.07.

Redefine gained 2.05% to R9.95, having earlier reported net tangible asset-value-per-share growth of 7% for the year to end-August. Massmart gained 1.95% to R101.95, having earlier reported like-for-like sales for the 43 weeks to end-October had risen 3.5%.

Shortly after the JSE closed the Dow was up 0.37% at 25,364.5 points, while in Europe the FTSE 100 had gained 0.54%, the CAC 40 0.39% and the DAX 30 0.25%.

At the same time, gold was flat at $1,233/oz and platinum at $869.81/oz.