The JSE pared earlier gains on Tuesday as global markets came under pressure from escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine, while the rand weakened more than 1% in intraday trading.
Reports of Ukraine using of US-supplied long-range missiles against Russian targets for the first time sparked a flight to safety.
US President Joe Biden authorised the Ukrainian military to use the missiles to help defend its forces in the Kursk region of Russia. In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an updated nuclear doctrine allowing the country to deploy nuclear weapons in response to conventional missile attacks backed by nuclear powers.
“Markets reacted strongly to heightened tensions as Putin updated Russia’s nuclear doctrine. This comes after reports of Ukraine using US-made missiles to strike Russian territory, intensifying fears of escalation,” said TreasuryONE director and head of market risk Wichard Cilliers.
“As expected, with ‘risk-off’ news in the market, the dollar initially rallied hard. However, as a sense of calm entered the market later on the day, the dollar has given back some of the gains.”
At 6.19pm, the rand was 0.45% weaker at R18.0372/$, though off an intraday low of R18.1753/$. It had also weakened 0.48% to R19.0962/€ and 0.57% to R22.8677/£. The euro was 0.16% softer at $1.0583.
Investors will pay close attention to tech and artificial intelligence company Nvidia, which is scheduled to report earnings for the quarter ended October on Wednesday, for clues on the sector’s overall health.
Nvidia started the week on the back foot after reports that the company’s Blackwell AI chips are overheating in servers. Investors’ focus will also be on how much demand the company signals for the chips, according to Bloomberg.
The JSE all share gained 0.12% to 84,526.75 points while the top 40 added 0.1%. Precious metals rose 2.51%, resources 1.54%, retailers 0.82%, food producers 0.33%, banks 0.31% and financials 0.25%. SA listed property lost 1.05% and industrials 0.37%.
At 6.59pm, the Dow Jones industrial average was 0.28% weaker at 43,267.90 points, while the S&P 500 was 0.15% firmer. In Europe, the FTSE 100 eased 0.13%, while France’s CAC 40 and Germany’s DAX were down 0.67%.
On the commodities markets, gold gained 0.48% to $2,624.06/oz and platinum 0.59% to $971.81/oz. Brent crude was 0.15% weaker at $72.81 a barrel.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.