JSE could open lower on Tuesday as trade tensions escalate

The JSE could open lower on Tuesday, adding to Monday’s 0.7% fall, as risk-off sentiment engulfs global equity markets after the stakes were raised in the trade dispute between the US and China.

The S&P 500 Index lost as much as 2.4% overnight after China retaliated to higher tariffs on its products by hiking tariffs on US goods.

US President Donald Trump tweeted that “China should not retaliate — will only get worse”.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index, which was closed on Monday for a holiday, was 1.6% down on Tuesday and Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.7%. The Shanghai Composite was 0.4% lower and Australia’s main benchmark 0.9%.

Chinese technology and gaming giant Tencent was 2.3% down in Hong Kong, while BHP Group lost 1% in Australia.

On the JSE, MiX Telematics and Mazor Group are due to report full-year financial results on Tuesday. Mazor said earlier in May its annual headline loss per share widened to between 15.2c and 15.4c a share.

Rebosis Property Fund is due to report half-year numbers. The landlord has warned that its distributable income in the year ending August 2019 was expected to be 52% to 62% lower than before.