Stronger rand dents JSE

Johannesburg - Naspers [JSE:NPN] was trading at a new all-time high for the fifth consecutive day at mid-morning on Tuesday, but this was not enough to support the JSE, which was pulled down again by a slightly stronger rand.

READ: Rand rallies as SA sidesteps recession

The major indices were all lower at mid-morning as the stronger rand pushed the prices of the big dual-listed shares, which represent more than half of the market capitalisation of the JSE, further down. These companies earn most of their income abroad and a strong rand, which traded at R14.21 to the dollar on Tuesday, means that these businesses earn less in rand.   

Naspers also started the day lower and at one stage shed almost 0.80% to R2 419.00, but the profit-taking did not last long and the share price was soon 0.32% up at a new high of R2 528.01.

Naspers is supported by the incredible run in the share price of Tencent, which became China’s most valuable company on Tuesday, but there was little else to cheer the local market on.

By mid-morning the All-share index was 0.22% lower at 53 504 points while the Top 40 index gave up 0.27% to 46 949 points. The Financial index was 0.05% lower, the Industrial index 0.21% in the black, Resources lost 0.62% and Gold gave up 1.51%.

Naspers owns 34% of Tencent, which is now one of the ten biggest companies in the world after it passed China Mobile on Monday to become China’s biggest company. Tencent’s market value on Monday was HK$1 990bn compared to China Mobile’s HK$1 970bn.

The Chinese internet giant gained 1.9% to trade at $214.20, which meant the share price has almost doubled over the past year as it traded at only HK$126.50 on September 7 2015.

The Naspers share price gained 54.07% over the same period and the company’s market capitalisation is now again firmly above Rtrn at R1.091trn. Naspers is 24% higher over the past three months.

The three biggest companies on the JSE all traded lower. British American Tobacco [JSE:BTI] lost 1.28% to R908.73 and SABMiller traded 0.87% softer at R834.06. Anheuser-Busch InBev [JSE:ANB] was also 0.20% lower at R1 812.00.

MTN [JSE:MTN] shed 2.03% to R120.11, which means the share lost more than 15% of its value over the previous 30 days. Steinhoff [JSE:SHF], which gave up more than 6% of its value over the previous seven days, lost 0.95% in morning trade to R86.38.

Aspen [JSE:APN] was the one exception and gained 2.22% to R363.89. The company is increasing its presence in China to market its generic drugs in that country.

The FTSE index at mid-morning was still slightly lower, which hampered the local dual-listed shares. The rest of the European markets are at their highest since April this year.

The FTSE mining index was however higher, but the resources sector on the JSE was a mixed bag. Anglo American [JSE:AGL] gained 1.17% to R158.02, but BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL] was 1.09% lower at R190.37. Glencore [JSE:GLN] lost 0.32% to R34.74.

Impala Platinum [JSE:IMP], which gained almost 30% over the previous 30 days, traded 0.89% higher at R67.70. The share was supported by the platinum price which lifted 2.49% to $1 084 per fine ounce.

In the financial sector, FirstRand [JSE:FSR] gained 0.83% to R45.91 and Barclays Africa [JSE:BGA] was 0.11% stronger at R148.67. Discovery [JSE:DSY] was one of the busiest shares but lost 0.58% to R125.52.

* Fin24 is part of Media24, a subsidiary of Naspers. Naspers has a 34% stake in Tencent.