JSE recovers as Naspers rebounds from sell-off

Cape Town - The JSE edged higher on Tuesday following the relief bounce in Tencent seen in Hong Kong. The move saw Naspers [JSE:NPN] gain 0.70% and close at R2542.76

The global tech stock rout eased on Tuesday, driving a bounce in equities across the world as a selloff that started in the sector last week showed signs of abating. 

The rand remained firm and closed the trading session at R12.77 to the greenback.  The market is waiting for the outcome of the US Federal Reserve’s ‘federal open market committee’ (FOMC) decision on interest rates on Wednesday at 20:00 SA time. 

The blue-chip Top 40 gained 0.21% followed by the All Share Index which edged 0.12% higher.  The gold miners suffered a 2.28% drop as a stronger rand combined with a weaker gold price put pressure on the sector.

READ: Brait results show impact of stronger rand to pound

Brait [JSE:BAT] fell 4.55% to R62.51 on the back of releasing financial results for what has been a difficult year. The net asset value of the business fell by 43% with the carrying value of New Look, a UK fashion retailer purchased by Brait, was slashed by 80%. Brexit weighed heavily on the earnings of the company, with the weaker pound decimating the conversion to rands.

The price of gold slipped 0.16% to $1262/Oz, ahead of market expectations that the US Fed is set to bump up interest rates tomorrow. Fed officials gathered today to begin their two-day meeting on interest rate policy.

The FOMC is expected to raise the central bank's benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point, marking the second nudge upwards this year following a similar move in March. Policymakers will also release their latest set of quarterly projections on growth, unemployment and inflation, as well as their rate hike path.

Brent Crude edged 0.31% lower to $48.14/bbl as reports indicated that Opec’s oil production increased in May. The increase counters the exporter group agreeing last month to extend its six-month deal to cap output. OPEC's output rose by 336,100 barrels per day to 32.14 million barrels in May, led largely by increases from Libya, Nigeria, and Iraq, according to the cartel's closely watched monthly market report.