GT247.com Trading Blog

Retailers drag the JSE lower

Written by Musa Makoni | 30 Jan 2019

 The local bourse retreated on Wednesday on the back of losses recorded in retailers and index giant, Naspers.

The weakness recorded in retailers was triggered by the release of Shoprite’s [JSE:SHP] trading statement for the half-year ended 31 December 2018. As preempted by its recent sales update, the trading statement indicated that Shoprite is expecting a significant drop in revenue and profit for that period. The stock slumped 14.28% to eventually close the day at R153.13.

This sentiment spread to retailers such as Truworths [JSE:TRU] which lost 5.53% to close at R77.26, and Massmart [JSE:MSM] which dropped 3.65% to close at R91.54. Volatility remains the constant for Blue Label Telecoms [JSE:BLU] which slumped 11.37% to close at R4.13 in today’s session. AVI limited [JSE:AVI] also came under significant pressure as it retreated 3.55% to close at R91.54. Index heavyweight, Naspers [JSE:NPN] closed at R3023.56 after losing 1.98%.

Miners were the day’s biggest gainers on the JSE with Kumba Iron Ore [JSE:KIO] closing amongst the day’s biggest advancers as it climbed 9.03% to close at R332.00. Anglo American Platium [JSE:AMS] added 2.47% to close at R623.00, while Lonmin [JSE:LON] gained 1.32% to end the day at R9.19. Gold miners were also buoyant as AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG] advanced 2.06% to close at R188.78, while Harmony Gold [JSE:HAR] closed at R26.79 after adding 1.32%. British American Tobacco [JSE:BTI] recorded another session of gains as it climbed 4.19% to end the day at R468.25.

The JSE All-Share index eventually closed 0.53% weaker while the JSE Top-40 index weakened by 0.52%. The Resources index was the only major index to record gains as it closed 1.21% firmer. The Industrials and the Financials indices closed 1.36% and 0.46% weaker respectively.

The rand traded mixed in today’s session as it swung between gains and losses against the greenback. At 17.00 CAT, it was trading 0.16% weaker at R13.62/$.

Brent crude advanced yet again in today’s session after it gave back most of its gains in overnight trading. The commodity was trading 1.03% firmer at $61.95/barrel just after the JSE close.

At 17.00 CAT, Gold was flat to trade at $1311.09/Oz, Platinum was up 0.12% at $815.15/Oz, and Palladium had managed to gain 0.3% to trade at $1347.29/Oz.

Bitcoin was 1.16% firmer at $3523.20/coin, and Ethereum had managed to add 2.8% to trade at $110.31/coin.