US markets are weaker as they continue to absorb the widening trade war between the US and China. Investment appetite on the JSE remains muted with investors looking to international markets for direction.

Here are some of the small and mid-cap stories we picked up yesterday:

New lows reached
A number of shares reached new 52-week intra-days during Wednesday trade. These include: Niveus, Blue Label Telecoms, Alexander Forbes and Massmart. No shares traded at 52-week highs.

Insimbi changes name:
Small cap industrial counter Insimbi Refractory and Alloy has updated its name to Insimbi Industrial Holdings to better reflect its underlying asset mix. Insimbi trades on a price to earnings multiple of 7.5 and offers a 4.3% dividend yield – the stock is up 17% year to date.

Advanced Health jumps:
Shares in pharmaceutical group Advanced Health were up 16% – albeit only on 1000 shares – on the day following a SENS announcement detailing a variety of director purchases. Directors have purchased R2.2m worth of shares at between 60c and 62c/share. Advanced Health remains down 21% year to date.

Gold Brands dumps Black Steer Franchise
Listed franchise and restaurant group Gold Brands has announced it will dispose of its interest in the Black Steer Franchise business for R3.2m to “increase cash flow and settle debt”. The franchise business had generated R787150 in profit in the previous financial year. Gold Brands is down 82% year to date.

Electus ups Mustek stake
Asset management group ELECTUS has upped its stake In technology group Mustek and now holds 10.17% of the total issued share capital. Mustek is up 67% over the past 12 months.

A2X secures another listing
Property group Growthpoint has announced that it has taken a secondary listing on the A2X exchange. This follows a similar announcement from asset management group Anchor. These success stories may be relevant to shareholders in African Rainbow Capital who are significant minority shareholders in the new exchange.