JSE eyes 73,000 points on Wednesday amid buoyant mood on global markets

The JSE looks set to open to positivity on global markets on Wednesday, but will need to hold on to gains after surging to nearly 73,000 points on Tuesday.

Further confirmation that the symptoms of Omicron are milder than other variants of Covid-19 gave risk assets a shot in the arm, as did news of almost $200bn of Chinese stimulus to offset pressure on its property sector.

Swissquote senior analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya said on Tuesday, however, that volatility remains high, while it is the Delta variant that is wreaking havoc in many countries.

“Also, no headline addresses the major concern of the week, rising US inflation, which is a big threat to the investor mood, as the US [consumer price index] CPI data is due Friday, and the expectation is an advance to a strong 6.7%,” she said. “The latter means that we could see wild mood swings into the second half of the week.”

The JSE surged 2.7% on Tuesday, its best day in nine months, despite SA’s worse-than-expected GDP numbers. 

In morning trade the Shanghai Composite was up 0.86% and Japan’s Nikkei 1.5%, while the Hang Seng was flat.

Gold was 0.21% higher at $1,786.63/oz while platinum had gained 0.86% to $963.07. Brent crude was flat at $75.27 a barrel.

The rand was 0.12% firmer at R15.82/$.

SA’s corporate calendar is bare on Wednesday, while the SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (Sacci) business confidence data for October and November are due later. The index had reached a 2021 low of 91 points in September, amid the fallout from civil unrest, but also due to concerns over soaring energy costs and erratic electricity supply.

Retail sales numbers for October are due later as well, having beaten expectations in September with a 2.1% year-on-year rise.

gernetzkyk@businesslive.co.za