The JSE fell on Tuesday with the outlook on the Chinese economy weighing on trader sentiment.
Bloomberg Economics slashed its forecast for China’s growth last week to 2% due to lockdown effects, estimating that the US economy may grow faster than China’s for the first time since 1976, reports Business Day.
The local bourse lost 0.99% with the All Share Index at 67,690 points while the top 40 also lost 0.99% to close at 61,176 points.
In company news, mining counter Amplats agreed to a new five-year wage deal according to the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Unions.
Bloomberg reports Anglo American Platinum, which is the world’s largest platinum miner by market value, could sign the deal this week and it would be effective from July. The mining counter’s share price lost 0.77% on Tuesday.
Coronation Fund Managers (1.16%) said headline earnings fell 22% for the six months to end-March with its fee income and assets under management declining. The fund management firm said interim dividends were cut by 12% to 214 cents per share while revenue fell by almost 11% to R1.934 billion.
In the currency markets, the Rand traded identically compared to yesterday, the local unit started in the R15.80s before it traded down to R15.65/$ before settling at R15.67 against the US Dollar.
“Like yesterday, the Rand has been swept along by a weaker US Dollar as most EM currencies caught the wave of dollar weakness and are trading stronger against the US dollar. The fact that the Rand has failed to break the R15.62 level again like yesterday only reinforces the view that the Rand could find running significantly lower a bit difficult,” comments forex trading house TreasuryONE.
It was a mixed bag on the commodity front, gold was the biggest gainer and is currently trading at $1,864. Platinum and palladium are down on the day, with the metals trading at $954 and $1,978 per ounce, respectively. Brent crude is trading slightly higher at $113.59 per barrel.
