Fear of attack on Syria daunts JSE

Tension over global trade was replaced by fears of military action on Wednesday, with the JSE dropping in line with major global equity markets, as investors factored in the risk of US intervention in Syria.

Brent oil reached $73 a barrel for the first time since 2014, helping to take the edge off losses in big diversified miners. Only the gold index finished in positive territory.

US President Donald Trump warned Russia, via Twitter, that “missiles are coming” to Syria, while reports suggested the US was working with its allies France, the UK and Saudi Arabia on a response to an apparent chemical weapons attack earlier this week.

US inflation also put stocks under pressure, despite coming in slightly below expectations due to fuel prices, with the overall data showing inflationary pressure was building, reported Dow Jones Newswires.

The all share closed 1.02% lower at 56,170.10 points while the top 40 lost 1.13%. Banks shed 2.49%, financials 1.29%, industrials 1.19%, food and drug retailers 0.96% and property 0.85%. The gold index rose 2.6%.

Barclays Africa fell 3.48% to R177 and Standard Bank 3.43% to R208.93. Steinhoff dropped 3.98% to R2.41. Hammerson ended the day 0.45% lower at R88.92 after French group Klépierre raised its bid for the group by 3.25% to £6.35 a share, from the £6.15 announced on March 19. Hammerson is involved in a takeover bid for Intu, which gained 2.38% to R35.75.

Naspers dropped 1.53% to close the day at R3,003.22.

Group Five plunged 13.8% to R4.06 ahead of its interim results to end December on Thursday. The company is expected to give further details of its Kpone contract in Ghana, which could face delay penalties of up to $62.5m. Group Five, however, maintains it has its own contractual claims.

At 5.45pm, the Dow was off 0.64% to 24,255.16 points, while in Europe the DAX 30 had fallen 0.83%, the CAC 40 0.64% and the FTSE 100 0.14%.

At the same time, gold had gained 1.89% to $1,364.52 an ounce and platinum 1.1% to $939.58. Brent crude was up 2.13% to $72.49 a barrel.

The top 40 Alsi futures index fell 0.64% to 50,215 points. The number of contracts traded was 17,109 from Tuesday’s 19,361.