JSE should feel pressure from Naspers and miners on Tuesday

Lower precious metal prices and pressure on Tencent’s share price in Hong Kong does not bode well for the JSE on Tuesday morning.

Asian markets were mixed, with Tencent down 0.76% on Tuesday morning, as global markets wait for direction in the form of US-China trade war headlines or further developments in terms of global monetary policy.

Tencent influences the JSE via Naspers, which owns 31.2% of the Chinese media giant.

Gold slipped to $1,490/$, while platinum was down 1.03% to $934.63. Brent crude was 0.11% higher at $62.75 a barrel.

The rand was steady at R14.76/$.

Local focus is on a summit by Moody’s Investors Service on Tuesday, when analysts should provide their view on SA’s fiscal picture and growth prospects. The conference will also focus on corporate liquidity risk and banking sector growth.

Moody’s opinion of SA’s credit health is critical if SA is to remain on global bond indices, as it is the last major credit agency to rate SA debt above junk status.

Further details on the health of SA’s economy on Tuesday will come in the form of manufacturing data for July.

Global focus remains on a European Central Bank (ECB) policy meeting on Thursday, with the ECB expected to respond to an economic slowdown in the eurozone.

Though consensus is for a cut to the eurozone’s deposit rate, markets remain nervous as there appeared to be division among policymakers, said National Australia Bank analyst Tapas Strickland in a note.

The corporate calendar is light on Tuesday.

Attacq is expected to release its full-year results to end-June. The real estate investment trust (Reit) behind the development of Waterfall City in Midrand said in March it had written down the value of its assets in the rest of Africa by R370m due to a difficult trading environment.

Clover is due to release its results for the year to end-June, with the food and beverages company in the sights of  consortium Milco, though this is still subject to approval from competition authorities.

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Source: businesslive.co.za