The JSE is once again facing mixed Asian markets on Monday, while President Cyril Ramaphosa cancelled his trip to the World Economic Forum (WEF) to help with the energy crisis.
The troubled power utility Eskom announced that stage 6 load-shedding will continue this week because of breakdowns at various power stations.
To help, Ramaphosa will not go to Davos, Switzerland this week with ministers and captains of industry to promote SA as an investment destination, but try to address the power cuts that started in 2008 but has recently worsened.
The Shanghai composite in mainland China climbed 1.44% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong 0.73%, while the Nikkei in Japan fell 1.23%.
Tencent, which influences the JSE via Naspers and Prosus, gained 0.86%.
The Shanghai composite and the Hang Seng gained on the back of Wall Street’s rally, while the strong yen has affected the outlook for exporters in Japan.
The Shanghai composite hit its highest point in four months on Monday as more money is being invested in China as the world’s second-largest economy reopens three years after implementing its strict zero-Covid-19 policy.
This also boosted the Hang Seng as China resumed its high-speed rail services between the mainland and Hong Kong.
In local markets, the JSE touched a record high on Friday, firming with its global peers as the rally prompted by Thursday’s US consumer price index, which showed inflation slowed in December, gained momentum.
A sign that inflation in the world’s largest economy is slowing gave market participants hope that the US Federal Reserve will slow the pace of interest rate hikes.
The JSE all share rose 0.9% to 79,333 points, having also reached an intraday record high of 79,527 points earlier in the session. The top 40 was up 0.98%.
The US closed higher on Friday, with the Nasdaq increasing 0.71%, the S&P 500 0.40% and the Dow Jones 0.33%.
In commodities, the price of platinum and gold was up 0.78% and 0.29%, respectively, to $1,070.30 and $1,925.05/oz. Brent crude declined 0.77% to $84.70 a barrel.
The rand strengthened 0.50% against the dollar, trading at R16.73/$.
The corporate calendar is bare for Monday with no releases expected.
On the economics front, the Bureau for Economic Research (BER) at Stellenbosch University will release its latest inflation expectation survey.
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