The JSE is facing lower Asian markets on Tuesday after economic data from China, including GDP, made investors wary.
The Nikkei in Japan climbed 1.27%, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong and the Shanghai composite in mainland China fell by 1.01% and 0.25%, respectively. Tencent, which influences the JSE via Naspers and Prosus, declined 0.81%.
China’s annual GDP grew at 3% in 2022, in a year marked by the zero-Covid policy and strict lockdowns as it missed the target of about 5.5%. This was the slowest growth rate since 1976, except for 2020, when the economy expanded by 2.2%.
“The upshot is that, while not as bad as feared, activity at the end of 2022 was still depressed, leaving plenty of upsides as disruption from the reopening wave of infections eases,” Capital Economics senior China economist Julian Evans-Pritchard wrote in a note.
Meanwhile, markets are upbeat in Japan as the Bank of Japan (BOJ) starts a two-day monetary policy meeting as it finds itself in an uncomfortable position. The Japanese have underperformed against global peers and the BOJ is coming under fire for its interest rate policy with a change expected.
In local markets, the JSE closed weaker on Monday with global peers mixed, having spent most of the session firmer. The all share index lost 0.21% to 79,167 points and the top 40 eased 0.2%.
US markets were closed on Monday for the Martin Luther King public holiday.
In commodities, the price of Brent crude rose 0.69% to $84.67 a barrel, while platinum was 0.29% lower at $1,058.90 and gold down 0.19% to $1,910.85.
The rand weakened slightly against the dollar as it traded at R17.07/$.
The corporate calendar is bare for Tuesday with no releases expected.
In economic news, Stats SA will publish the November data for mining production and sales at 11.30am. Mining production plunged 10.4% in October, coming in worse than market forecasts of a 4.9% slump, partly because of load-shedding.
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