Trade war "off"; US shares 1H surge; Anglo's $8.5bn to SA; King Price swoops; Transhex rebounds

The year long on-off-on trade war between the US and China is apparently off again after the countries’ leaders lunched for an hour and a half on Saturday.  On Friday, international mining company Anglo American plc disclosed in its 2018 tax and economic contribution report, that South Africa remains the group’s most important area of operations.  Still with mining, South African diamond producer Trans Hex, posted a strong turnaround in the year to end March, delivering profit of R144m compared with a loss of R229m in the previous 12 months.  Another major step was taken on Friday in the unwinding of the collapsed Abil group, with the sale of its insurance arm Standard General.  South African shares ended slightly firmer on Friday with the JSE’s all share index rising a quarter of a percent, taking its gain in the first half of 2019 to a healthy 11.5%.