Fallout from Huawei CFO arrest likely to knock JSE

Asian markets were rattled on Thursday morning by the arrest in Canada of an executive of Chinese telecoms equipment manufacturer Huawei.

Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei’s founder Ren Zhengfei and who serves as the group’s CFO and deputy chair, will be extradited to the US where she faces charges of violating sanctions against Iran.

Tencent was among the Chinese technology stocks to suffer on Thursday morning, losing 3.61% to HK$309.40.

Naspers tends to track Tencent because its 31%-stake in the Hong Kong-listed internet company is its major asset, so the JSE top 40’s largest constituent is likely to add to Wednesday’s 2% drop to R2,872.62.

Tencent contributed to Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index falling 2.6%. 

Huawei’s products are widely used and sold in SA.

In Sydney, the JSE top 40’s second-largest constituent, BHP, was down 2% to A$31.18, a bad omen for the local bourse on Thursday.

The price of palladium, which overtook platinum in 2017, has now also overtaken gold.

Source: businesslive.co.za