Johannesburg - Stocks snapped a four-session losing streak on Monday, buoyed by retailers Steinhoff and Shoprite which announced they had scrapped their plan to merge after failing to agree on a price.
The benchmark JSE Top40 index was up 0.96 percent at 45506.2 points, while the all share index climbed 0.64 percent to 52 558.61 points.
Shoprite jumped 8.64 percent to hit a two-month high of R188 and Steinhoff advanced 4.96 percent to R70.11. Investors had been unnerved by the lack of detail surrounding the proposed exchange ratio.
“For Shoprite there has been a major overhang around this acquisition for a very long time and I think it will free up any uncertainties,” said Paul Chakaduka at Global Trader.
Read also: Shoprite, Steinhoff call off talks
Banks weighed on the bourse with the banking index shedding 0.6percent as investors continued to digest the competition watchdog’s recommendation that banks should be fined for rigging the rand currency.
Meanwhile, European stocks rose yesterday, with gains in telecoms and banks offsetting a big fall in Unilever, while uncertainty over political developments and the timing of a US interest rate hike kept the dollar in check.
US markets were closed for the Presidents Day holiday yesterday.