The JSE traded marginally firmer on Tuesday having slipped during early trade as investors weigh South Africa’s economic woes.
The All Share Index added 0.27% to close at 79,385 points.
Eskom and the government are facing court challenges over unprecedented and ongoing load-shedding while President Cyril Ramaphosa cancelled his planned working trip to the World Economic Forum hosted in Davos, Switzerland in favour of holding meetings over the blackouts.
Around 45% of economists polled in the most recent Bloomberg survey see South Africa heading for a recession in the next twelve months. This is higher than the 35% recession prediction that was made in November.
Investors are awaiting the outcome of Ramaphosa’s load-shedding meetings for some direction in the market.
In China, the economy has proven to be more resilient than was initially forecast as a coronavirus wave swept across the country. Fourth quarter figures and December data came out far better than anticipated while gross domestic product came in at 3% for 2022 – the worst since the 1970s – reports Bloomberg.
In the currency markets, the rand opened trading at R17.05 against the dollar having slipped as much as 2% at one point against the greenback on Monday. At 05.19 pm, the local unit was trading weaker at R17.10/$.
At the same time, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 were trading firmer at 0.56% and 0.37%. In Europe, Germany’s DAX (0.68%) and France’s CAC 40 (0.70%) were firmer while London’s FTSE 100 bucked the trend trading 0.095% lower.
Earlier, Asian markets were mixed with the Nikkei adding 1.23% while the Hong Kong Hang Seng (-0.78%) and Shanghai Composite (-0.10%) closed lower.
