South African rand weaker, stocks led up by Naspers

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's rand weakened against the dollar on Wednesday, weighed down by a souring growth outlook as the continent's most advanced economy continued to show signs of slowing down.

Stocks firmed, led higher by bourse heavyweight and e-commerce group Naspers.

At 1515 GMT the rand was 0.28 percent weaker at 14.2100 per dollar from its New York close of 14.1725 overnight.

The rand has fallen nearly 3 percent in the last week, weighed down by woes at power utility Eskom and overall mixed fortunes for emerging currencies as the greenback regained momentum and powered to near a two-week high.

The currency edged firmer after Tuesday's GDP data showed the economy grew 0.8 percent in 2018, slightly higher than expected, but was back on the ropes on Wednesday after business confidence slumped to a five-month low.

Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago said on Wednesday growth was set to remain below 2 percent in 2019, while rising fuel and electricity prices posed a risk to the inflation outlook.

Low inflation has boosted demand for Pretoria's debt, with the 10-year paper offering around a 3 basis point spread above U.S. Treasuries, shielding the rand from even deeper losses.

The yield on the 2026 bond was 1 basis point higher at 8.69 percent at close of play.

On the bourse, the Johannesburg all-share index rose 0.42 percent to 56,053 points, while the Top-40 index  gained 0.58 percent to 49,875 points.

Naspers led the market higher, up 1.91 percent to 3,215.34 rand after gains in Hong Kong technology giant Tencent , in which it has a 31 percent stake.

Shares in Africa's largest pay-TV business MultiChoice  were unbundled to Naspers shareholders on Monday helping to further lift shares. MultiChoice listed on the JSE last week.

"Naspers is heavily weighted in the index so that is definitely pushing the market up," said Cratos Capital equities trader Greg Davies.