JSE faces pressure on Wednesday from Trump impeachment inquiry
The JSE is likely to react on Wednesday to concerns over political uncertainty in the US, with US and Asian markets under pressure after an impeachment investigation into US President Donald Trump was announced.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday announced the inquiry into Trump’s alleged efforts to get Ukrainian authorities to investigate his 2020 presidential election rival Joe Biden.
Asian markets were lower on Wednesday, with Shanghai’s Composite falling 0.57% as of 6.10am, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gave up 0.95%.
Gold was flat at $1,529.84/oz while platinum fell 0.15% to $953.75. Brent crude was 0.323% higher at $62.63 a barrel.
The rand was steady at R14.8715/$.
Gold miners may benefit from the surge in interest in safe havens on Tuesday, which followed the impeachment inquiry announcement.
“Gold sprang to life and is now managing to put some substantial distance from the $1,500 pivot level for the first time in two weeks,” said AxiTrader analysts in a note.
“Keep in mind this move is exacerbated by weak macro surveys in the wake of poor eurozone purchasing managers’ indexes on Monday and the huge miss in US September consumer confidence data,” the analysts said.
There is little on the corporate calendar on Wednesday, though the focus will be on the SA Reserve Bank’s quarterly bulletin, as well as US developments, said Peregrine Treasury Solutions corporate treasury manager Bianca Botes in a note.
“While some of the outcomes from the first day of debate at the 74th UN general assembly will be noted today, markets will be specifically focusing on the US-Iran tension after last week’s drone attack on Saudi oil processing facilities,” Botes said.
Source: businesslive.co.za