JSE likely to take a breather on Thursday

The JSE received no clear signals from Asian markets on Thursday morning.

After Wednesday’s rally — which helped Naspers gain 4.85% to R2,973, boosting the all share index by 2% to 53,223  — markets took a breather.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index was down 1.2% and Sydney’s ASX 200 index was down 0.1%, but Chinese stock markets were slightly higher.

Naspers’s dominant asset Tencent was up 0.31% to HK$328.60, helping Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rise 0.37%. Mainland China’s Shenzhen component index was up 0.53% and the Shanghai composite index was up 0.23%.

China’s commerce ministry issued a statement on Thursday following the conclusion of three days of trade talks with US officials in Beijing. 

Reuters reported there were few concrete details on the meetings in Beijing, which were not at a ministerial level, so were not expected to produce a deal to end the trade war.

Brent crude oil, which managed to regain $60 a barrel on Wednesday after dipping to nearly $50 a barrel at Christmas, was trading at $60.95 a barrel on Thursday morning.