JSE faces mixed Asian markets on Friday after bumpy week

The JSE faces mixed Asian markets on Friday morning, after a volatile week, with sentiment still being largely driven by the concerns about the pace of the ongoing vaccine rollout and hopes around US stimulus efforts.

Global markets had rallied in the early part of the week, with the JSE breaking past 65,000 points for the first time, driven higher by investor interest in Tencent and expectations of further stimulus efforts in the US. Warnings from the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday that the US economic recovery is dependent on the pace of vaccines being delivered weighed on sentiment a little.

Market news on Thursday was dominated, however, by a decision from a number of online retail brokers moved to limit trade in a number of high-flying stocks.

Retail investors on Reddit messaging boards have been co-ordinating to bolster the prices of some companies, including GameStop, putting pressure on investment firms that had bet that their share prices would fall.

The broader equity market took the restrictions as a positive sign, lifting US equities, said National Australia Bank analyst David de Garis in a note.

In morning trade the Shanghai Composite was up 0.23% and the Hang Seng 0.35%, while Japan’s Nikkei had lost 0.88%.

Tencent, of which the Naspers stable is the single-biggest shareholder, had risen 3.6%.

Gold was flat at $1,841.88/oz while platinum had fallen 0.69% to $1,065.05/oz. Brent crude had risen 0.21% to $55.52 a barrel.

The rand was 0.6% weaker at R15.28/$.

Hudaco Industries, an importer of automotive, industrial and electrical products, is due to release its results for the year to end-November later, indicating in a recent trading update it had an improved second half, and a tough first-half due to Covid-19.

Headline earnings per share are expected to decline by up to 24% for the year, Hudaco said in a recent trading update, having fallen 63% in its first half.

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Source: businesslive.co.za