JSE faces mixed Asian markets, while rolling blackouts continue

The JSE faces mixed Asian markets on Thursday morning, with no major catalyst to give direction, while locally rolling blackouts have intensified.

Eskom has moved to stage 4 load-shedding from stage 2, and this is expected to persist for the rest of the week, dealing a further blow to SA’s already recessionary economy.

Global focus is on US jobs numbers, with US markets setting new records overnight.

In morning trade, Japan’s Nikkei was up 1.13%, while the Hang Seng had fallen 0.3%.

Tencent, of which Naspers is the largest single shareholder, was down 1.01%.

Gold was flat at $1,942.77/oz, while platinum had risen 0.85% to $911.75. Brent crude was little changed at $44.38 a barrel.

The rand was 0.15% firmer at R16.78/$.

City Lodge is due to release its results for the year to end-June later, which should give details on how the Covid-19 pandemic has hit profits.

Impala Platinum is expected to report surging profits in its year to end-June later, due to rising precious metal prices.

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Source: businesslive.co.za