Sanlam Private Wealth Morning Digest 18 April 2019

Local Markets

Yesterday saw local markets end in a mixed fashion as a drop in mining shares was offset by an uptick in most other indices. By the close, the JSE All Share index had risen 0.01%, while the Top 40 lost 0.05% to dip into negative territory. The banking index was among the top performers, up 1.19%, followed by a 0.86% increase in the industrial index. In contrast, the resource index shed 2.23%, with BHP dropping 3.03% after it released an operational update earlier in the day. Lastly, the gold mining index also ended lower, down 0.97%, despite Sibanye surging 6.59% after it announced that a five-month long strike at its gold operations had come to an end.

American Markets

A sharp decline in health care shares weighed on US markets during the previous session, with most major indices ending in negative territory. The S&P 500 led the losses, with the index moving to settle at just above the 2,900 index point level. Meanwhile, the NASDAQ and Dow Jones fell 0.05% and 0.01% respectively. Among health care shares, Anthem and Cigna ended 3.62% and 3.67% lower, while UnitedHealth lost 1.86% with the group extending its recent losses. On the upside, Qualcomm gained another 12.25% a day after it and Apple settled patent litigation against each other, with the latter gaining 1.95% by the close.