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Johannesburg - Investors were treading water on Tuesday in the run-up to the no confidence debate later in the day in Parliament.
The All-share index moved sideways for most of the morning, after an initial jump on news that this afternoon’s vote will be decided by a secret ballot, which improved the opposition’s changes to remove President Jacob Zuma. By mid-morning it was just below the new all-time high set the day before, trading only 0.01% softer at 56 159 points, while the Top 40 index lost 0.01% to 49 758 points.
The Industrial index gained 0.38%, pulled higher by Naspers [JSE:NPN] which was again at an all-time high, after gaining 1.06% to a new record of R2 912.69.
The Financial index was marginally lower, despite the stronger rand which improved to R13.25 to the dollar on news of the secret ballot. Although the index was 0.05% softer at mid-morning, two of the big banks, Standard Bank [JSE:SBK] and FirsRand [JSE:FSR], both traded at 52-week highs.
The stronger rand was bad news for resources shares, with the Resources index losing 1.05%. Anglo American [JSE:AGL] traded 3.38% lower at R218.53. Gold shares were 0.15% firmer, supported by a slightly higher gold price.
Naspers, which is by far the biggest share on the JSE, was supported again by Tencent, the Chinese internet giant listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Naspers owns 34% of Tencent, which is the biggest listed company in Hong Kong. By mid-morning Tencent was 2.5% higher at yet another all-time high of $328.60.
Tencent’s share price rose despite news that Chinese exports and imports both grew much less than expected in July, seemingly breaking a run of better numbers from the Asian giant that had fuelled optimism on global growth and a rally in industrial commodity prices. Analysts said the softness was overstated.
Before Tuesday’s trade, Naspers was 10.51% higher over the past 30 days and more than 25% up over the past 90 days. The gains for the year to date are more than 43%.
Richemont [JSE:CFR] traded lower for the second consecutive day after reaching a 52-week high of R118.49 last Friday. The stock lost 0.62% to R115.84.
Bargain hunters started to buy Netcare [JSE:NTC] shares in the morning, after the share closed on a 52-week low of R24.10 on the back of disappointing interim results on Monday. At mid-morning the share was 1.78% higher at R24.52, but it is still more than 24% lower for the year to date.
Vodacom [JSE:VOD] reached a 52-week intraday high of R186.80 in early trade, but then lost momentum and at mid-morning was 0.16% softer at R185.22. The share price gained more than 13% over the past 30 days to its current record levels. MTN [JSE:MTN] was 1.12% higher at R122.00.
Standard Bank [JSE:SBK] continued on its record-breaking run and traded 0.79% higher on a new 52-week high of R167.31. FirstRand[JSE:FSR] also reached a 52-week high on Tuesday and the share was 0.26% stronger on a new intraday 52-week high of R54.51. Standard Bank gained 16.8% over the past 30 days and FirstRand 14.21%.
- Fin24's parent company Media24 is part of the Naspers Group.
