JSE faces mixed Asian markets on Thursday ahead of Ramaphosa address
The JSE faces mixed Asian markets on Thursday, and a much lower Tencent, with local focus on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement of an economic recovery plan later.
Ramaphosa is due to address parliament at 2pm, with the announcement coming ahead of the medium-term budget policy statement later in October.
Internationally, markets were mixed with little new to drive direction.
“Sometimes there is just not a lot to say about the markets, especially when they settle into a range-trading mode,” said Oanda senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley in a note. “The temptation in such circumstances is for the market to, increasingly desperately, find stories to justify the nuanced moves of a ranging market.”
In morning trade, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.1%, while the Hang Seng had fallen 1.28%.
Tencent, which gives direction to the JSE via Naspers, its largest single shareholder, was down 2.88%.
Gold was flat at $1,901.10/oz, while platinum had risen 0.64% to $863. Brent crude was 0.14% weaker at $43.36 a barrel.
The rand was 0.22% weaker at R16.56/$.
There is little on the local corporate or economic calendar on Thursday, with focus instead on parliament.
Source: businesslive.co.za
