Weaker economies in both Germany and France dragged European markets down on Tuesday as high inflation not seen in decades and increasing gas prices push Europe to the brink of a recession while the euro dropped to a 20-year low versus the US dollar.
The downturn in the German economy, Europe’s largest, is a result of high inflation and rising interest rates while data out of France showed its economy contracted for the first time in 18 months during August.
On the local front, the JSE climbed nearly 1% higher with the All Share Index closing at 69,772 points after adding 0.83%
In company news, Bidvest said it expects headline earnings per share to increase by between 18% and 22% compared to the previous year, which would be between 1,414 cents and 1,462 cents.
The group said it expected its full-year results to be reported on September 5 while the share price closed 0.20% down.
Building materials retailer, Cashbuild, said it expects headline earnings to fall between 30% and 35% for the past year. While there was a DIY boom during the pandemic that momentum has since disappeared while the retailer was also hard hit by the looting and riots in July 2021, which forced store closures.
Following the update on Tuesday, the share price added 1.63%
