JSE likely to follow dismal Asian markets on Friday

Asian markets slid further on Friday morning as investors reacted to lower than expected third-quarter GDP data from China.

The Chinese economy grew 1.6% in the September quarter from the June quarter and 6.5% over the year — missing the economists’ consensus of 6.6%.

The 6.5% annual growth of the Chinese economy marked a deceleration from the June quarter’s 6.7%, coming in at its slowest since the first quarter of 2009.

The disappointing GDP numbers initially caused the Shanghai composite index to fall more than 1%, but it recovered and was only down a fraction by 6.40am.

Tencent took its cue from the Nasdaq composite index which closed 2.1% lower on Thursday, sliding 1.21% to HK$277.60.

This indicates further pain for Naspers, and in turn the JSE.

Naspers, whose 31%-stake in Tencent is its dominant asset, slid 1.17% to R2,724.94 on Thursday, taking its drop from its R4,142.99 peak in November 2017 to 34%.