Slumping Shoprite pulls JSE lower
Gold miners continue to shine, but Shoprite has lost ground after being the latest retailer to report flagging sales volumes in 2018
The JSE was slightly weaker on Wednesday morning, with gains by gold miners failing to offset a slump by Shoprite. The retailer warned on Tuesday that it expected headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the 26 weeks to end-December would fall as much as 36% compared with the previous period. Shoprite has now joined Woolworths and Mr Price in releasing market-disappointing updates in January, underscoring the pressure consumers were under in 2018 due to rising fuel prices, stagnant wage growth and the first VAT increase in 25 years. At 10am Shoprite was down 9.87% to R160.88. The all share was down 0.1% to 54,332.8 points and the top 40 had lost 0.07%. Industrials were down 0.49%, and food and drug retailers 3.51%. Gold miners were up 1.87%. Gold was up 0.23% at $1,314.39/oz and platinum 0.39% to $816.86. Brent crude was flat at $61.28 a barrel. Gold miners found support ahead of the US Federal Reserve monetary policy decision, due after local markets close on Wednesday. The Fed is wi...
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