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Johannesburg - Top shares with strong ties to the Chinese economy were again the top performers on the JSE on Friday, with their weight pulling the rest of the market higher.
These shares, which are also listed in London, were supported by European markets where the FTSE-index on the London Stock Exchange reached a new high on Thursday.
The rand continued to be relatively strong against the dollar, which is losing momentum, but this did not put a damper on the prices of heavyweights such as Naspers [JSE:NPN] and Richemont [JSE:CFR], which both have strong ties to the Chinese economy.
Analysts are far more optimistic about the prospects of the Chinese economy after strong manufacturing and services data gave Asian markets a big push.
World markets are also on a roll and the MSCI's gauge of the world's stock markets hit its highest levels in a year-and-a-half, taking its gains since the start of the year to 1.7%. This was boosted by this week's generally upbeat economic readings in the United States, China and Europe.
By Friday mid-morning the All-share index on the JSE traded 0.79% higher at 53 079 points, while the Top 40 index was at that stage already 0.97 higher at 44 106 points.
These gains mainly resulted from the Industrial index which at mid-morning was already 1.09% higher, despite the rand trading at R13.66 to the dollar. The Financial index was at that stage 0.70% higher while the resources index traded 0.66% stronger.
Naspers, which before Friday’s trade was already 4.42% higher over the previous seven days, added 2.33% to trade at R2 069.54 at mid-morning. Naspers owns a 34.4% stake in Chinese internet giant Tencent, which represents more than 1% on Hong Kong's Hang Seng index. On Friday Tencent was almost 1% higher than the previous day, after strong gains over the previous two days.
Richemont was one of the busiest shares on the JSE and traded 2.16% higher at R89.79. The company lost more than 17% of its value last year on concerns about the effect of a slowdown in Chinese sales of luxury goods.
Some of the other dual-listed shares did not fare so well. Steinhoff [JSE:SHF], which is also listed in Frankfurt and has lost 26.7% of its value over the previous 90 days, dipped 0.47%.
Sasol [JSE:SOL] traded 0.64% higher at R402.50 on expectations that supply cuts by Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi will support the oil market. However, doubts that all producers will implement output reductions agreed in a landmark deal last year kept markets from rising further. Sasol gained more than 5% over the last 30 days.
Gains in the commodity sector were modest, with Anglo American [JSE:AGL] only 0.84% higher at R193.64 and BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL] 0.58% firmer at R223.13. Resources shares were almost unchanged over the past 30 days after strong gains in the first half of the year.
In the financial sector FirstRand [JSE:FSR], which gained more than 35% over the past year, was 1.03% stronger at R53.20. Standard Bank [JSE:SBK] was 0.58% up at R148.97 and the share is now more than 38% higher than a year ago.
*Fin24's parent company Media24 is part of the Naspers Group.
