JSE at its best in a fortnight
THE JSE settled at its best level in more than two weeks yesterday in a broad-based market rally‚ supported by optimism that legislators in Washington will reach a deal to end the fiscal impasse.
The all share index gained 1.31% to 44‚297.17 points — about 300 points below the record peak it hit on September 26. The blue-chip top 40 index climbed 1.47%‚ boosted by the 2.45% jump in the platinum index‚ while gold stocks were 0.14% weaker.
“It looks as though it is going to be a positive end to a chapter‚ not necessarily a story‚” Absa Investments GM Craig Pheiffer said‚ referring to reports that US congressional legislators were closer to a deal to reopen the federal government and increase the country’s borrowing limit before tomorrow’s deadline.
“Time is rapidly running out to lift the US debt ceiling‚ but it does appear that the Senate leaders may have reached an agreement in principle‚ which‚ however‚ still needs to be passed by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives‚” Stanlib’s Paul Hansen said.
“If the agreement is passed‚ the debt ceiling would be raised until early February and the government would reopen until January,” Mr Hansen said.
Among individual shares on the JSE‚ Anglo American (AGL) was up 2.98% to R248.77‚ Impala Platinum (IMP) surged 4% to R121.68 and volatile Sibanye Gold (SGL) gained 3.11% to R12.59.
SABMiller (SAB)‚ which has been under pressure this month‚ recovered 1.40% to finish at R481.15‚ while Capitec Bank Holdings (CPI) rallied 3.97% to R217.
Media conglomerate Naspers (NPN)‚ which last week came off lows of R900‚ bounced back 3.36% to finish at R953.97.
Stefanutti Stocks (SSK) rose 5.44% to R9.49 after a trading update in which it said it expected headline earnings per share in the six months to August to rise by as much as 45% on the year ago.
Value Group (VLE) dropped 5.56% to R6.80‚ despite posting a 13% rise in net profit to R42.1m in the six months ended August. Retail franchise group Taste Holdings (TAS) was unchanged at R3.79 following its interim results.
South African futures closed yesterday’s session much firmer as they followed the JSE higher, buoyed by market optimism that a US fiscal impasse deal would be reached soon.
At 5.26pm the near-dated Alsi was up 1.66% to 39‚995 points. The number of contracts traded‚ according to data available at 5.42pm, was 36,118 from 27,655 on Monday.