Johannesburg - Stocks ended higher on Monday, with Naspers topping the gainers’ list on the blue chip index ahead of quarterly results from its Chinese money spinner, Tencent Holdings.
The blue chip JSE Top 40 index gained 0.44 percent to 45507.67 points and the broader all share index added 0.39 percent to 52753.56 points.
Naspers, the country’s biggest company by market value, gained 3.31 percent to R2291.20. Naspers owns about a third of Tencent, which is due to report its fourth quarter results on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, US and European shares tumbled yesterday on concerns that higher interest rates and pro-growth US policies were on hold, boosting safe-haven Treasuries and gold prices.
The US Standard & Poor’s 500 financial sector fell more than 2 percent and was on track for its biggest daily plunge in two months. Analysts attributed the selling to reduced confidence that US President Donald Trump’s pro-growth policies, would occur soon, and to concerns of a dovish Federal Reserve.
The tech-heavy US Nasdaq Composite was down more than 1.3 percent after hitting a record intraday high. Europe’s broad FTSEurofirst 300 stock index also fell after earlier hitting a 15-month high.