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Johannesburg - A rising tide of economic and political concerns globally put a damper on equity markets worldwide on Tuesday and the JSE was no exception.
The sentiment on the JSE turned cautious on Monday afternoon, continuing on Tuesday as investors nervously await the State of the Nation address later this week and amid lingering concerns about a possible Cabinet reshuffle.
Globally there is no support as US markets lost ground on Monday, Asian shares were down and the European markets made a sluggish start with local political issues on the forefront of investors’ minds.
Concerns about US President Donald Trump’s protectionist policies increased after the far-right National Front Leader Marine Le Pen launched her French presidential campaign on a platform pledging to fight globalisation and take France out of the European Union.
The rand also lost ground from Monday morning’s highs, but even that did not support the prices of dual-listed shares. By mid-morning the rand traded at R13.45 to the dollar, compared to Monday morning’s high of R13.29.
Most of the major indices on the JSE were moderately down, except the Resources and Gold indices. The All-share index shed 0.23% to 52 031 points and the Top 40 index slipped 0.27% to 45 233 points. The Industrial index lost 0.55% despite a stronger market in London and the Financial index was marginally softer, losing only 0.05%.
The Resources index was 0.30% higher as the major shares improved only moderately, while the Gold index gained 0.87% on the back of a higher gold price which benefited from a weaker dollar and political uncertainty with investors looking for a safe haven.
At mid-morning BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL] was only 0.44% up at R233.00 and Anglo American [JSE:AGL] gained 1.33% to R224.00. Steel producer ArcelorMittal [JSE:ACL] lifted 2.57% to R13.95. Investors were encouraged by the announcement that the company’s loss decreased from R21.52 per share in 2015 to between R4.38 and R4.48 for 2016. Kumba [JSE:KIO] was 0.95% higher at R198.61.
The top performers in the gold sector were DRDGold [JSE:DRD], which traded 8.40% higher at R8.00, and Harmony [JSE:HAR] which was 3.73% firmer at R36.94. The gold price was 0.835% higher at mid-morning at $1 230.60 per fine ounce
The platinum price increased by 0.50% to $1 050/oz and Impala Platinum [JSE:IMP] traded 2.03% higher at R52.73. Anglo American Platinum [JSE:AMS] hardly moved and was only 0.02% firmer at R345.49.
Naspers [JSE:NPN] was 1.28% down at R2 186.40, but British American Tobacco [JSE:BTI] and Richemont [JSE:CFR] were moderately higher. British American Tobacco gained 0.15% to R829.74 and Richemont was 0.56% higher at R100.74.
MTN [JSE:MTN], which lost almost 7% over the previous seven days, traded 1.30% lower at R118.30.
Oil prices inched higher on Tuesday after posting their biggest one-day loss since January 18 on Monday, as worries about rising oil supply out of the United States tussled with optimism about output curbs elsewhere. Sasol [JSE:SOL] was however still down and lost 0.86% to R385.73.
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