JSE looks headed for a fall, with trading likely to be slow on US Independence Day

With US markets closed for Independence Day, trading volumes on the JSE and other stock exchanges are likely to be thin on Wednesday.

Besides the Standard Bank-sponsored whole-economy purchasing managers’ index (PMI), there is little news expected to move the local market.

The Standard Bank PMI tends to be higher than Absa’s manufacturing PMI, which was reported to have dropped 1.9 points to 47.9 points in April from 49.8 points in May.

The Standard Bank PMI showed a large “Ramaphoria” jump at the start of 2018, going from 49 points in January to 51.3 points in February, but then proceeded to decline to the neutral 50-point level in May.

A poll of economists by Trading Economics expects it to have risen slightly to about 50.5 points in April.

Hong Kong-listed Tencent — which tends to be a reliable indicator of how the JSE will open since its 31%-owner Naspers tends to track it — was down 1.6% to HK$384.60 ahead of the local bourse’s opening.

Trade war jitters with the US sent the Shanghai composite index down 0.68%, and Sydney’s ASX 200 index was down 0.5%, though BHP was up 0.15% at A$33.10.

The rand was trading at R13.65 to the dollar, R15.92 to the euro and R18.02 to the pound at 6.45am.