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Johannesburg - Greater stability on world markets helped the JSE regain its upwards momentum on Wednesday, although the gains were quite modest.
Although resources shares were still marginally softer by mid-morning as commodity prices are taking a breather, the Industrial and Financial indices were both about a half percentage higher.
Greater certainty about the British government's plan to exit the European Union helped the FTSE index in London marginally higher, while the pound was also about 3% stronger. The dual-listed shares on the JSE usually follow their London counterparts higher.
Markets in the Far East were also on a three-month high as investors judged concerns expressed by US pesident-elect Donald Trump over a stronger dollar to be beneficial to some of the regional bourses.
It also benefited the rand, which gained about 0.73% to trade at R13.58 to the dollar. The local unit was however 1.5% softer against a stronger pound, at R16.69.
By mid-morning the All-share index on the JSE was only 0.14% higher at 52 893 points, while the Top 40 index traded 0.15% stronger at 46 115 points. The strong performers were the Industrial index, which was 0.37% higher, and the Financial index, which was 0.44% stronger. The Resources index was 0.44% lower.
British Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed on Tuesday what investors had to come to expect: that Britain will pull out of the European Union's single market when it exits the bloc, and not look for a compromise deal to retain some of its benefits.
Investors were however more at ease after a promise by May that parliament would get a vote on the Brexit deal and that firms would be given time to make the transition to the new arrangements.
British American Tobacco [JSE:BTI] attracted much attention after the group announced on Tuesday that it has been given the go-ahead to acquire the 57.8% in the US firm Reynolds it did not already own for $49.4bn. The purchase price was bigger than originally offered, but the market responded positively and at mid-morning the share price was already 1.75% higher at R783.45. The stock has been in the doldrums lately, and is more than 13% lower over the past 90 days.
READ: BAT gets green light to acquire rival Reynolds
British American Tobacco, which owns famous brand names such as Dunhill, Peter Stuyvesant and Benson & Hedges, will now also have brands such as Camel, Newport and Pall Mall in its stable.
Naspers [JSE:NPN] traded 0.60% stronger at R2 178.69 but MTN [JSE:MTN], which will soon be listed in Nigeria, was 0.45% softer at R127.17.
Sasol [JSE:SOL] added 0.88% to its share price, which is already almost 12% higher over the past 30 days, to trade at R424.72. Sasol benefited from the higher oil price, as its income from synthetic fuel is linked directly to the price of crude oil.
The top resources shares were again lower. Anglo American [JSE:AGL] lost 1.25% to R217.97 and BHP Billiton was 0.45% lower at R238.80. Glencore [JSE:GLN] reached an intraday 52-week high of R53.40 in early trade, but by mid-morning was 1.24% lower at R52.13.
Shoprite [JSE:SHP] surprised the market on Tuesday with news that its turnover for the six months until December was 14% higher than a year ago at R71.3bn. This was mainly due to strong growth elsewhere in Africa, as stakes in the South African supermarkets increased by 10.8%.
At mid-morning the share price was 1.75% higher at R179.20, after it gained 4.75% over the previous seven days. Woolworths [JSE:WHL], which is 3.73% higher over the previous seven days and 8.63% over the past 30 days, traded 0.98% higher at R72.21.
