Johannesburg - The JSE was softer on Thursday morning‚ with
resources the only index providing support due to a Chinese economic print that
was in line with expectations. Gold miners were the biggest losers‚ with a bit
of profit taking seen across the market this morning‚ after Wednesday’s record
highs.
At 9:31am the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index was 0.48% lower
at 37‚095.09 points‚ with resources up 0.50% and gold miners hedding 1.10%.
European markets were in the black‚ with the FTSE 100 in
London a tad higher (0.02%) at 5‚912.37 points at 9.16am local time‚ while in
the East the Nikkei 225 surged 2% by its close.
“The bright spot this morning is resource shares trading
higher as expected after Chinese third quarter GDP print came out in line with
expectations and investors sighed with relief‚” said Devin Shutte‚ market
analyst at stockbrokerage Newstrading.
Chinese third quarter GDP growth stands at 7.4% year-on-year
from 7.6% in the second quarter.
“Our local market has rallied by between 800 and 1‚000
points since Friday and we have had a big risk-on rally as international
investors renewed their appetite for our local shares‚” Shutte said.
Rand Merchant Bank said in a note the positive sentiment in
global markets should prevail today.
“Positive global data and recovery in the rand supported the
local rates market yesterday‚ which rallied despite a rise in US Treasury
yields. Stronger-than-expected retail sales growth may also have given hope
that growth is not quite as bad as feared‚ which would be good news for the
fiscal outlook‚” the bank said.
August retail sales data jumped from 2.9% (revised from
4.2%) to 6.4% year-on-year.
“Following the downgrade of the SA on Friday last week‚
S&P has spent the past two days downgrading the global scale ratings of
government-related entities‚ some corporates and financial institutions to
align with the sovereign (SA) move‚” the bank said.
“Yesterday’s rating actions‚ however‚ were more industry and
company-specific. AngloGold Ashanti and Gold Field’s ratings were placed on a
negative watch‚ implying that there is a 50% probability that within 90 days
the ratings could drop to BB+‚ which is below what is traditionally considered
investment grade. Anglo American’s rating was placed on negative outlook‚
implying rating action within 18 months‚ largely dependent on the speed of
resolution of the problems in the mining sector. On the positive side‚
Vodacom's national scale rating was upgraded two notches to zaAA+ on the back
of both the mapping scale adjustment and good credit fundamentals‚” the bank
said.