JSE faces mixed Asian markets on Thursday

The JSE must contend with mixed Asian markets on Thursday morning, with investors concerned about a second outbreak of Covid-19 in the US state of Texas.

A spike in cases in Texas is threatening sentiment, which was already fragile as the market considers a recent string of gains for equities, said AxiCorp chief global markets strategist Stephen Innes in a note.

“After all, a secondary outbreak is nothing to sneeze at as traders remain in a state of risk limbo watching risk assets for signs of continuation or stall,” he said.

Sentiment, however, has received some boost from the US Federal Reserve saying overnight it is unlikely to raise interest rates until 2022.

In morning trade, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 1.03% while Japan’s Nikkei has given back 2.3%. The Shanghai Composite had added 0.2%.

Tencent, which influences the JSE via Naspers, had risen 1.3%.

The rand was 0.89% weaker at R16.66/$.

Gold was down 0.27% to $1,730.48/oz, while platinum had fallen 0.28% to R828.70. Brent crude was 2% lower at $40.50.

Local focus is on mining and manufacturing data later, while the global economic calendar is somewhat bare.

[email protected]