JSE faces mostly weaker Asian markets on Thursday amid tech pressure

The JSE looks set to start to mixed, but mostly struggling, Asian markets on Thursday morning, with investors still digesting US corporate earnings reports and concerns over the global economic outlook.

The war in Ukraine continues with a new offensive by Russia in the east, while Chinese lockdowns have raised concerns about the prospects of further economic slowdown and supply-chain disruptions.

Sentiment has also been affected by a disappointing earnings report from Netflix, whose share gave back about 35% on Wednesday.

US equities traded flat overnight as Netflix is less than 1% of S&P 500, SPI Asset Management managing partner Stephen Innes said in a note.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.22%, while in morning trade on Thursday Tecent had fallen 4.11%.

The Shanghai Composite was down 1.6% and the Hang Seng 1.74%, while Japan’s Nikkei had gained 0.93%.

In Asia, regional markets are likely to take a wait-and-see approach, to see if the corrections overnight in US markets are a one-day wonder or will extend for some days yet, said Oanda senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley in a note.

Gold was 0.32% weaker at $1,951.23/oz, while platinum had given back 0.57% to $983. Brent crude was 0.5% higher at $107.51 a barrel.

The rand was 0.23% weaker at R15.06/$, having lost 0.56% on Wednesday, when data showed SA’s consumer inflation accelerated to 5.9% in March from 5.7% in February.

Inflation is expected to average about 5.7% for 2022, said Anchor Capital investment analyst Casey Delport in a note. However, fuel inflation is a key part of this trajectory and there is a lot of uncertainty about the future path of oil prices, she said.

The local corporate and economic calendar is bare on Thursday.

gernetzkyk@businesslive.co.za