JSE lower as US Fed strikes hawkish note
The JSE all share opened lower on Thursday as risk-off trade received another boost after the minutes released from the US Federal Reserve’s federal open market committee (FOMC) reflected a hawkish stance.
The market has priced in a further hike at the Fed’s December meeting, with hikes set to rise further in 2019, “albeit gradually”, the minutes showed.
The release of the Fed minutes halted the risk-on environment in the market over the past couple of days, TreasuryOne currency dealer Wichard Cilliers said.
“The Fed thinks interest rates are still low, which encourages borrowing, investing and spending, thereby boosting overall economic growth,” he said.
The dollar firmed in response but the rand traded largely unchanged at about R14.24 a dollar.
The Dow closed 0.36% lower on Wednesday. The Nikkei 225 was 0.8% lower on Thursday, with the Shanghai Composite down 2.94% and the Hang Seng 0.48%.
Naspers followed a lower Tencent share price in Hong Kong, losing 1.97% to R2,702.95, extending losses for the year to 21.3%.
At 9.40 the all share was 0.57% lower at 52,091.20 points and the top 40 dropped 0.67%. Industrials lost 0.99%, the gold index 0.98%, general retailers 0.88%, food and drug retailers 0.79% and platinums 0.68%.
Sasol was flat at R519.41 after it said in a trading update that the investment in the Lake Charles project would not exceed $11.13bn.
British American Tobacco was 0.44% lower at R612.80 after earlier informing the market that it continued to deliver good market share gains, while industry volumes were set to fall 3.5% for the full year.
Standard Bank was down 0.85% to R162.41.
Steinhoff International jumped 8.46% to R2.18 after European investors suspended legal proceedings against the group.
Dis-Chem added a further 2.37% to R28.56 as the market warmed to interim numbers released on Wednesday.
In the property sector Hammerson rose 2.78% to R84.28.
Mediclinic lost a further 4.87% to R70.36. It tumbled about 20% on Wednesday after the company warned of poor performances in Switzerland and the UK.
Source: businesslive.co.za