JSE could struggle to sustain record high levels amid patchy global trading

The JSE could struggle to find traction on Thursday, given the patchy trading picture in Asia, where Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Japan’s Nikkei 225 traded at the break-even point.

The Dow futures equally suggested a lacklustre session on Wall Street, after the main stock indices there hit a series of record highs in recent days.

Global equity markets have held up reasonably well despite concerns of the highly transmissible Delta variant, which has occasionally hurt sentiment. 

The JSE is at record highs, helped in recent days by the recovery in the share price of market heavyweight Naspers, which in turn got a reprieve from Tencent. Over the past two weeks, the Chinese internet giant has been caught up in Beijing’s regulatory crackdown, which hurt its shares before they stabilised.

The JSE-listed Naspers holds a 29% stake in Tencent via its global internet arm, Prosus.

Elsewhere, the rand was down 0.16% to R14.6497/$, after weakening sharply on Friday in the wake of the better-than-expected US nonfarm payrolls report, which raised speculation that the US Federal Reserve could pare back its monetary stimulus.

Investec chief economist Annabel Bishop said earlier in the week the rand would remain sensitive to incoming US data.

The gold price, which is highly sensitive to changes in US monetary policy, was relatively flat at $1,752.60/oz. It fell fairly sharply after the US nonfarm payrolls report, hurting JSE-listed gold shares in the process. 

mahlangua@businesslive.co.za