The JSE closed weaker on Wednesday led by Naspers which continued to slide further on the back of the downtrend in Tencent Holdings.
In Hong Kong, Tencent Holdings lost another 2.52% to close at $HK286.40 as the sell-off in the stock persisted. The bearish sentiment in Tencent has not spared Naspers on the JSE which is also under a sharp sell-off. In today’s session Naspers [JSE:NPN] slumped by 6.47% to close at R2656.98 per share.
Mondi PLC [JSE:MNP] and Mondi Ltd [JSE:MND] fell by 7.15% and 6.99%, to close at R350.31 and R353.03 per share respectively. This was following a downgrade of international paper by Goldman Sachs which dragged most global paper producers.
Richemont [JSE:CFR] came under pressure following a report by Morgan Stanley which downgraded major global luxury goods makers to underweight, as they flagged growth concerns for the companies given the current share price valuations. The stock closed 4.23% weaker at R108.30 per share.
Diversified miner, BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL] retreated by 3.24% to close at R305.76, while Anglo American PLC [JSE:AGL] lost 2.3% to close at R318.69. Blue Label Telecoms [JSE:BLU] fell by 3.04% to close at R5.42, And Harmony Gold [JSE:HAR] closed 4.68% weaker at R24.26.
Of the day’s gainers, Aspen [JSE:APN] recouped some of Tuesday’s losses as the stock rebounded to close the day 1.91% firmer at R160.00.
British American Tobacco [JSE:BTI] added 1.66% to close at R670.83, while Growthpoint Properties [JSE:GRT] firmed to close at R23.15 after gaining 0.87%. Curro Holdings [JSE:COH] was one of the day’s top gainers after climbing 6.82% to close at R26.01.
Famous Brands [JSE:FBR] managed to post gains of 3.44% to close at R102.50 per share.
The JSE All-Index struggled which saw it close 2.54% weaker, while the JSE Top-40 index lost 2.8%. All the major indices fell on the day with the Industrials index taking the biggest knock of 3.3%, while the Resources and Financials indices lost 3% and 0.68% respectively.
The rand strengthened overnight against the greenback which resulted in the currency peaking at R14.52/$ in today’s session. The local currency however erased those gains to trade at R14.64/$ at 17:00.
Brent crude slipped further in today’s session as concern shifted from supply to whether there was sufficient demand in the market for existing supplies. The commodity was trading at $83.80/barrel just after the JSE close.
At 17.00 CAT, Gold was down 0.16% to trade at $1187.81/oz, Platinum was down 0.19% at $823.75/oz and Palladium was 0.07% weaker to fetch $1070.05/oz.
Bitcoin was flat to trade at $6590.20/coin and Ethereum was down 1.16% to trade at $225.70/coin.