JSE drops as trade-war tariff hike deadline looms

The JSE was lower on Tuesday in line with most global markets, as investors remain in wait-and-see mode ahead of key global risk events.

US agriculture secretary Sonny Perdue said on Monday that President Donald Trump did not want to impose tariffs on Chinese imports but did want to see “movement” from China, Reuters reported.

Perdue’s comments come just five days before the US is expected to impose a tariff hike on $156bn worth of Chinese goods.

“I fear a delay to the tariffs is the best investors can hope for. Don’t get me wrong, relief can be very good for markets”, Oanda senior market analyst Craig Erlam said.

Investors are also watching the last monetary policy meetings from the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank this week.

Earlier, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.1%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.22% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 was flat. In Europe, the FTSE 100 lost 1.19%, France’s CAC 40 0.8% and Germany’s DAX 1.28%.

At 11.55am, the JSE all share was down 1.13% to 54,646.02 points and the top 40 1.35%. Banks lost 1.92% and financials 1.46%

African Phoenix Investments said on Tuesday that it expects its net asset value per ordinary share to have increased between 68% and 78%, or 87.50c and 92.70c, in the year to end-September. Its share price dropped 3.95% to 73c.

Online takeaway service Just Eats said its board believes that shareholders should reject the revised offer from Naspers-subsidiary Prosus. Naspers dropped 2.06% to R2,010 and Prosus 0.66% to R963.31.

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