JSE drops on renewed doubt about trade-war truce

The JSE was in negative territory on Friday morning, tracking most global markets following mixed reports on the US-China trade war.

Investor sentiment was faint on Friday after White House trade adviser Peter Navarro denied earlier reports that the US and China had agreed to lift tariffs as part of the phase 1 deal.

“Sometimes we can get so caught up in the trade headlines that we don’t stop to question why everything doesn’t quite add up and align with past behaviour,” Oanda senior market analyst Craig Erlam said.

“Last month, Trump’s announcement of a phase 1 deal sounded very one-sided for the US, begging the question of what exactly China is demanding in exchange. Now we know,” Erlam said.

Earlier, the Shanghai Composite  lost 0.49%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng 0.7% while Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.26%. In Europe, FTSE 100 lost 0.32%, France’s CAC 40 0.36% and Germany DAX 0.28%. 

At 10.51am, the JSE all share was down 0.98% to 56,920.6 points and the top 40 1.04%. Industrials lost 1.05% and resources 1.27%. The JSE is up 0.42% for the week.

Tiger Brands was up 4.72% to R231.17. The packaged goods company said on Friday that it was considering disposing of its value-added meat products business.

Richemont was down 4.36% to R112.38. The company said on Friday that sales in Hong Kong decreased by double-digits in the six months to end-September.  

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Source: businesslive.co.za