South African shares edged up slightly on Friday underpinned by investment company Brait that said it would buy a majority stake in British budget clothes retailer New Look. The African investment heavyweight Brait rose more than 4 percent to 94.75 rand after saying it would pay $1.2 billion for a 90 percent of the store. "It's a lot of money Brait is paying and the UK market is highly competitive," said Wayne McCurrie, fund manager at Momentum.
"But on the bright side it is not as risky as Nigeria, for example, and over time to diversify is actually a logical strategic move." The bluechip Top-40 index rose 0.2 percent to 47,935 and the broader All-Share index was up 0.3 percent to 54,028. PPC ended 2.7 percent higher at 17.66 rand after South African authorities slapped a tariffs of as much as 77.2 percent on Pakistani cement to curb dumping. Property companies Capital Property Fund and Fortess Income Fund were some of the top gainers on the All-share index, after adding 5.4 percent and 7.5 percent respectively. Fortress plans to acquire Capital.
On the downside, Oceana Group lost the most value at the bourse, dropping more than 14 percent after posting half-year earnings that were 11 percent lower. Anglo American Platinum shaved 2.5 percent to 310.16 rand as rating agency Goldman Sachs cut the company's price target by 80 rand. Trade in the market was above average, with 211 million shares changing hands compared with last year's daily average of 183 million.
Comments
Comments are closed.