The tone of stock exchanges trading ahead of the JSE’s opening on Tuesday morning was generally downbeat. Asian markets took their cue from Wall Street where the S&P 500 index closed 0.32% lower on Monday. Tokyo’s Topix index was down 0.2% and Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.15% at 7am. The rand was relatively flat at R14.06/$, R16.35/€ and R18.56/£ on Tuesday morning, but may weaken after Statistics SA publishes the September quarter’s labour force survey at 11.30am. SA’s high unemployment rate, especially among the youth, is commonly raised by credit rating agencies as a major obstacle to the country’s economic growth prospects. The consensus from a poll done by Trading Economics is that SA’s unemployment rate will have worsened from the June quarter’s 27.7% to about 28%. The number of unemployed South Africans is expected to have grown to about 6.3-million from 6.1-million over the three months.
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.