JSE remains under pressure as global recession fears mount

Pressure on the JSE continued on Thursday as fears of a global economic slowdown prompted a worldwide sell-off on Wednesday.  

investors have sought safety in longer-term US treasuries, something that has been widely interpreted as a sign that the US is headed towards a recession. 

“I’m in no way playing down the risk of recession, the data has been warning about the risks for some time and equity markets have been in denial as they’ve continued to scale new highs.” said senior market analyst at Oanda Craig Erlam.

“It’s often said that the bond market is a step ahead, which is why the panic has set in but I do believe we read too much into trends at times, and the 2- to 10-year fear certainly falls into this bracket,”

Earlier the Shanghai Composite had gained 0.25%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng 0.89% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 1.21%. 

At 10.20am, the JSE all share had fallen 0.17% to 53,939.1 points and the top 40 0.15%. Platinum and gold miners had fallen 1.08% and 1.61% respectively. 

Gold Fields had fallen 2.82% to R87.15 after the company  declared a dividend of 60c in the six months ended June, on Thursday.  

ARB Holdings said on Thursday that its operating profit fell 24% to R155.4m for the year ended-June. The company’s share price was unchanged at R4.20. 

No major domestic economic data is expected today. The US is scheduled to publish manufacturing and industrial production data for July later in the day. 

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