JSE weakens as banks and retailers fall in risk-off trade
As rand plunges 2% against dollar, ‘wall of worry’ returns to global markets amid fear of an escalating trade war between China and the US
The JSE closed weaker on Monday as risk-off sentiment dominated on concern about a trade war between China and the US.Those fears have capped investors’ appetite for risk, explaining why the US stock market has struggled for momentum, Dow Jones Newswires reported."For the first four months of the year, all of these threats were there but no one really thought the clouds were going to materialise. Now we’re back to the wall of worry," said Jim Tierney, chief investment officer of concentrated US growth at AllianceBernstein.Technical glitches at the JSE’s opening and closed Chinese markets had a negative effect on volumes, which were exceptionally low at about R11bn. The daily average is about R24bn.Trade started two hours late due to an unspecified technical problem, the JSE said.The Dow opened 0.9% lower, while Chinese markets were closed for the dragon boat festival.After falling sharply on Friday, Brent crude was up 2% to $74.57 a barrel at the bourse’s close.Oil cartel Opec and n...
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