JSE slips as political uncertainty pulls Asian stocks lower
The JSE opened lower on Tuesday morning in line with Asian markets, as investors shy away from riskier assets amid concerns about the effect of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests and the US-China trade war.
Protesters brought the Hong Kong Airport to a standstill on Monday, which resulted in the cancellation of more than 100 flights. The city’s CEO, Carrie Lam, said it would take a long time for Hong Kong to recover from the violent protests.
“It’s been a tough summer already and it may get tougher yet, with there being little for investors to cheer about,” senior market analyst at Oanda Craig Erlam said.
Earlier, the Shanghai Composite had fallen 0.63%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng 2.08% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 1.11%. In Europe, the FTSE 100 had fallen 0.31%, France’s CAC 40 0.35% and Germany’s DAX 30 0.41%.
At 10.11am, the JSE all share had fallen 0.39% to 55,156.80 points and the top 40 0.42%. Industrials were down 0.51% and resources 0.46%.
Absa had gained 0.65% to R149.27 after the bank said on Tuesday that its normalised revenue grew 6% to R39bn for the six months ended June.
Steinhoff had gained 2.33% to R1.32. The retailer is expected to give an update on its restructuring plan on Tuesday.
The US is scheduled to announce its inflation rate for July on Tuesday amid mounting expectations that the US Federal Reserve will cut its interest rate at the Fed’s next meeting in September. The consensus is for a rise of 1.7% year on year from 1.6% in June, according to Trading Economics. The UK will announce its unemployment figures for June later in the day.
Source: businesslive.co.za