JSE reaches a new high
Banking, retail and property stocks have been buoyed by expectations of a Sarb repo rate cut in May.
Some stocks continue to face volatility – as was the case with Aspen Pharmacare last week when it saw a 30% share price wipeout in a single day. Picture: AdobeStock
The JSE closed at a new high on Tuesday following the long weekend, with the All Share Index (Alsi) topping 91 300 points.
While Africa's biggest bourse ended the day just 0.65% firmer, the new record means it is up over 8% year to date despite the volatility caused by US President Donald Trump's tariff moves.
Banking, retail, and property stocks have been buoyed by expectations of a rate cut from the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) next month, after the country's inflation rate for March came in lower than anticipated and at an almost five-year low.
Gold stocks, which have been on a tear this year with record bullion prices, lost a bit of shine over the past week, but some JSE counters closed firmer on Tuesday.
Ironically, the new JSE high comes as Trump's trade war has also seen the oil price slump to around the $60 a barrel mark in April – its lowest level since 2021 – which has helped cool SA inflation.
While Trump has paused his proposed much higher global reciprocal tariffs on most nations for 90 days, barring China, volatility could return depending on how negotiations with different nations progress.
Some stocks, like global pharmaceutical shares, continue to face volatility – as was the case with JSE-listed SA major Aspen Pharmacare last week, with its 30% share price wipeout in a single day.
ALSO READ: Investing in JSE shares: What you need to know
Aspen lost over R22 billion in market cap last Wednesday. It has however recovered some losses – closing Thursday 6% up, and around another 1% up on both Friday and this Tuesday. The Durban-based group's market cap plunged to around R49.9 billion last Wednesday, but had firmed to just over R54.1 billion after Tuesday's close.
Current market darling Capitec jumped significantly last week, after announcing record results, briefly taking top spot as the JSE's biggest banking group by market cap.
It topped the R3 500-a-share mark after releasing its results last week, and again on Tuesday, although it closed 0.91% up at R3 484.13 with a market cap of R404.5 billion.
Banking giant FirstRand regained the top spot, closing even stronger on Tuesday, 2.42% up, taking its market cap to around R410.7 billion.
Other banking majors Standard Bank, Nedbank and Absa closed 1.9%, 2.03%, and 1.92% firmer on Tuesday, respectively. The JSE's Financials 15 index jumped 1.61%.
Source: Moneyweb/Profile Data
ALSO READ: Global trade war's potential blow to Southern African Customs Union revenue
Mobile giant Vodacom, together with sector junior peer (and Cell C major shareholder) Blue Label Telecoms, and financial services groups OUTsurance and Momentum, all hit 52-week highs on the JSE on Tuesday. Vodacom closed more than 2% up, OUTsurance 1.83% firmer, and Momentum jumped over 3%.
There were more JSE winners than losers on the day, with small-cap property company Acsion Limited gaining the most, surging almost 20%.
However, amongst the JSE Top 40 stocks, MTN and Clicks both gained over 3%.
Besides the banking groups, Sanlam and Shoprite also gained – up 2.29% and 1.82 %, respectively.
'All-time highs are great, especially coming after the long weekend and considering the Vat mess, global trade wars, and concerns about our government of national unity [last week],' said Simon Brown of Just One Lap.
'Our market still powered ahead, underpinned by gold miners but banks and even industrials are coming to the party,' added Brown.
ALSO READ: Weekly economic wrap: Policy reversals and lowest inflation in 5 years
Psychological level
The JSE first broke through the new psychological level of 90 000 points on 19 March, but plunged a few weeks later after Trump first announced his reciprocal tariffs against most of the US's trading partners.
After Trump backtracked with a pause on most tariffs, many global markets recovered some losses, while others – like the JSE – are trading at record highs.
In terms of major listed property stocks, Vukile Property Fund closed 1.74% up, and Growthpoint was just over 1% firmer.
Vukile brushed off a major power outage on Monday that hit Spain and Portugal, a region which now makes up over 60% of its overall property portfolio.
Following its latest acquisitions in Valencia (Spain) and Madeira (Portugal), the group's share price hit a more than five-year high last week. It touched R19.15 a share last Tuesday, and the group's market cap is now above R23 billion.
This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.
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