Naspers leads as South African stocks snap losses, rand steadies

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African stocks snapped a five-day losing streak on Wednesday, partly due to investors chasing bargains, with Naspers among the top gainers after the media and e-commerce firm flagged higher earnings. The rand recouped some of the previous day's heavy losses against the dollar, although traders did not anticipate any substantial gains in coming sessions, with recent data pointing to lethargic output in Africa's most developed economy. The All-Share index ended up 1.23 percent at 52,026 points, while the benchmark Top-40 index closed 1.44 percent stronger at 46,050 points. Markets worldwide have been hammered by worries about the repercussions of Britain's possible exit from the European Union, due to be decided in a referendum on June 23, but those abated slightly on Wednesday. "The market is gaining some traction now... that there seems to be more talk of England staying in the EU for now," Independent Securities trader Ryan Woods said. "There is also a little bit of bargain hunting creeping in as well." Naspers, South Africa's biggest company by market value, gained 2.07 percent to 2,185.36 rand after the company said full-year profit likely rose as much as 20 percent. Elsewhere on the bourse, BidCorp, rose 7.2 percent to 268 rand, after raising more than 4 billion rand in an oversubscribed equity cash call. Steinhoff was in the spotlight after the retail conglomerate said it was considering making a takeover bid for Britain's Poundland, an $800 million no-frills homeware chain. Steinhoff's stock added 0.4 percent to 85.58 rand. Trade was brisk, with more than 470 million shares changing hands, well above last year's daily average of about 296 million shares. On the currency market, the rand touched a session high of 15.2050 to the greenback, but came back to 15.2835 by 1614 GMT, up just 0.13 percent from its New York close at 15.3040 on Tuesday. The local currency had stumbled as much as 1.5 percent on Tuesday to its weakest in more than a week after the South African Reserve Bank said the current account deficit widened to 5 percent of GDP in the first quarter of this year from 4.6 percent. South Africa relies heavily on portfolio flows to plug its current account shortfall, making the rand more vulnerable than its emerging market peers when risk appetite wanes. Statistics South Africa released more downbeat data on Wednesday which showed growth in retail sales slowed to 1.5 percent year-on-year in April from 2.9 percent in March. "Today’s weak retail sales data will add to the pessimism surrounding South Africa’s economy," Capital Economics analyst John Ashbourne said. Traders and analysts said markets were focused on the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy statement later on Wednesday which could give high yield emerging market currencies like the rand a boost if more dovish than expected. In fixed income, government bonds edged higher, across the board, with the yield for the benchmark instrument maturing in 2026 falling 7.5 basis points to 9.125 percent. South African financial markets were due to stay closed on Thursday for a public holiday. (Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng and Stella Mapenzauswa; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)