Stocks remain upbeat as virus cases decrease

The local bourse extended its gains on Tuesday in line with
global stocks which advanced amid improved sentiment on the coronavirus.

Global markets seemed to rally on the back of similar
sentiment from the prior session in which a lower number of coronavirus related
deaths were reported from Italy, Spain and China. This gives hope that the
spread of the virus is being contained and this could potentially lead to
reduced economic downtime due to quarantining and self-isolation. With no
economic data being released locally, the all-share index took direction from
the trend from other major global indices.

The rally in stocks has seen a slight outflow from the
greenback, which has benefited emerging market currencies such as the rand. The
rand extended its gains against the US dollar as it peaked at a session high of
R18.08/$. At 17:00, the rand was trading 2.03{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2} firmer at R18.29/$.

On the JSE, Sasol [JSE:SOL] had another dramatic session in
which the share leaped as high as R75.96 before it settled 53.48{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2} higher at
R71.60. Hammerson [JSE:HMN] surged 31.4{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2} to close at R16.95, while Resilient
REIT [JSE:RES] rallied 11.72{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2} to close at R34.99. Motus Holdings [JSE:MTH]
extended its gains as it added 23.2{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2} to end the day at R36.00, while City Lodge
Hotels [JSE:CLH] rocketed 20{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2} to close at R24.00.

Sibanye Stillwater [JSE:SSW] gained 17.03{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2} as it closed at
R29.76, while platinum miner Impala Platinum [JSE:IMP] added 14.92{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2} to close at
R99.98. Significant gains were also recorded for The Foschini Group [JSE:TFG]
which rallied 11.22{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2} to close at R77.50, Anglo American [JSE:AGL] which climbed
6.36{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2} to close at R318.01, and Capitec Bank Holdings [JSE:CPI] which closed at
R1085.00 after adding 6.06{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2}.

Significant declines were recorded for a handful of
retailers in today’s session. Lewis Group [JSE:LEW] fell 9.14{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2} to close at
R15.81, Pick n Pay [JSE:PIK] lost 4.1{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2} to close at R56.43, while Shoprite
[JSE:SHP] dropped 3.95{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2} to close at R122.63.

Tobacco producer British American Tobacco [JSE:BTI]
retreated 2.92{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2} to close at R659.00, while television content provider
Multichoice Group [JSE:MCG] weakened by 2.12{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2} to close at R88.14. Losses were
also recorded for Dis-Chem Pharmacies [JSE:DCP] which closed at R23.01 after losing
2.29{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2}, as well as MTN Group [JSE:MTN] which shed a modest 0.95{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2} to close at
R51.21.

The JSE All-Share index closed 2.72{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2} firmer while the JSE
Top-40 index gained 2.48{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2}. The financials index topped gains amongst the major
indices as it surged 5.02{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2}, while the resources and industrials indices gained
4.11{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2} and 0.97{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2} respectively.

Brent crude was trading flat just after the JSE close at it
was recorded at $33.04/barrel.

At 17:00, gold was 0.7{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2} softer at $1651.36/Oz, platinum had
shed 0.17{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2} to trade at $739.76/Oz, and palladium was 3.37{e93887a69cdd95d753f466db084bbc3aa0067124675315461d28d68a72842cc2} higher at
$2235.29/Oz.

*Musa Makoni is a trading specialist at Purple Group