Johannesburg - The JSE opened softer on Friday morning‚ with
banking counters leading the downside amid some profit-taking on the back of a
weaker than expected economic data print out of China on Friday.
“There is not much to say; with a public holiday yesterday
many investors are nowhere to be found. The highlight today is weaker than
expected July export figures out of China with a negative bias in the Far East‚”
said Ryan Wibberley‚ equity dealer at Investec Asset Management in Cape Town.
"We have had multi-month highs and China is giving
everybody a reason to take some profit. We are seeing pedestrian trade and are
drifting amid light volumes. These days bad data is good news‚ because it makes
a case for more monetary stimulus‚" he said.
”The rand has drifted weaker and commodities slightly lower‚
the weaker rand is helping gold stocks and companies such as Richemont to trade
higher‚” he added
At 9.44am local time the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index was
0.22% lower at 35‚416.04 points. with gold miners up a tad (0.08%).
Asian markets were mixed on Friday following weaker than
expected Chinese trade data‚ which followed on Thursday’s weaker inflation and
industrial production figures‚ which were interpreted by many as leaving room
for Beijing to implement more measures to stimulate the economy.
At 9.29am local time the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index had
dipped 1.03% to 20‚061.08 points‚ while the Japanese Nikkei closed 0.12%
higher.
European markets were softer on the Chinese news with the
London FTSE 100 down last seen down 0.28% and the Paris CAC shedding 0.92%.
“Chinese July data released yesterday and early this morning
came in well below expectations. The third quarter looks like it will be even
weaker than second quarter. Some commentators have gone as far as saying China
is already in a hard landing‚ but this seems to be stretching it. Actual
commodity prices have held up well‚ but the commodity currencies such as the
Aussie and kiwi have taken a sharp hit‚” Rand Merchant Bank said in a morning
note.
“Data elsewhere has been mixed. German industrial production
data came in weak‚ but the weekly US jobless claims data was strong once again.
Today’s data calendar has nothing of major importance‚ leaving the markets to
trade off the Chinese story and‚ as always‚ talk and rumours on what eurozone
officials are planning next‚” the bank added.