JSE faces red screens from Asia as Wall Street falls
The JSE is facing red screens from Asia on Wednesday following a drop on Wall Street and mixed economic data from China and Japan.
The Hang Seng was down 0.39% after US stocks ended lower for the third day in a row. Meanwhile, new official data from China showed factory activity shrank for a second month in August and the services sector grew the least in three months amid new coronavirus cases, lockdowns in some cities and power shortages because of a severe drought.
“The official PMIs show a further loss in economic momentum this month as the reopening boost waned and the property downturn deepened. We continue to think the economy will struggle to make much headway during the coming months,” Capital Economics senior China economist Julian Evans-Pritchard said in a note.
The Nikkei decreased 0.37%, following Wall Street’s lead, despite industrial production and retail sales beating market forecasts in July 2022.
The Shanghai composite fell 1.18%.
Tencent, which influences the JSE via Naspers, was flat.
The JSE closed sharply lower on Tuesday — its third straight day of losses, as global concerns about higher interest rates and a recession continue to dominate sentiment globally. The all share index slumped 1.89% to close at 67,900.48 points, marking its lowest level in just over a month.
Gold, platinum and Brent crude were all up with 0.11%, 1.45% and 0.2% gains. Gold was trading at $1,724.70/oz, platinum at $856.88 and Brent crude at $100.09 a barrel.
The rand gained 0.34% against the dollar as it was trading at R16.92/$.
Wednesday is going to be another busy day on the earnings front with pharmaceutical manufacturer Aspen Pharmacare, building materials retailer Cashbuild, engineering group Murray & Roberts and automotive group Motus releasing results.
The SA Revenue Service (Sars) is publishing the trade balance for July at 2pm, with a drop of about a quarter in the surplus forecasted.
Stats SA has three reports due on Wednesday. The first is financial statistics of extrabudgetary accounts and funds for 2021, which contains the financial statistics of cash transactions of national and provincial extrabudgetary accounts and funds, at 11am.
The second is the building statistics for 2020, containing monthly and annual building statistics based on sample surveys of building activities financed by the private sector as reported by local government institutions. The final one is the National Poverty Lines for 2022, a money-metric measurement of poverty to help poverty reduction programmes and policies. Both are due at 2.30pm.
Source: businesslive.co.za
