A slump in US stocks on Thursday — the Nasdaq index fell 1%, the S&P 500 index 0.94%, and the Dow Jones Industrial index 0.74% — set a downbeat tone for Asian markets trading ahead of the JSE’s opening on Friday morning. The growing chance of the European Central Bank (ECB) raising interest rates caused the Euro Stoxx 50 to fall 0.47% on Thursday. The weakening rand limited the drop for its JSE-listed tracker, dbx-eu, which fell 0.08% to R52.95. Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.93% and Tokyo’s Topix index was down 0.55% at 6.30am on Friday morning. The rand was trading at R13.42/$, R15.33/€ and R17.41/£. The South African Reserve Bank is scheduled to release June’s foreign exchange reserves at 8am on Friday. The consensus of a poll of economists done by Trading Economics is reserves will have remained close to May’s $47.24bn. Sasol, which fell 0.63% to R372.88 on Thursday, may continue to follow international oil prices down on Friday. Brent crude oil was 0.75% lower at $47.51 a barr...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.