JSE firms as investors assess US data

The JSE closed marginally firmer on Thursday, with global peers also firmer as investors digested more US economic data.

Data earlier showed US retail sales for January plunged 0.8%, more than the forecast 0.3% decline. The data raised concerns about the strength of the US consumer under the weight of sticky inflation and high interest rates, Bloomberg reported.

Meanwhile, data from the US labour department showed initial unemployment claims unexpectedly fell to 212,000. They were expected to rise to 219,000 versus 218,000 in the previous week.

“Weak retail sales and softer jobless claims may console traders a little bit after brutal inflation data this week,” FXTM senior research analyst Lukman Otunuga said. “In reality though, the [initial claims] data does not paint a full picture of the strength of the market, so this little relief will be shortlived. There’s still uncertainty over the global economic outlook and the timing of rate cuts this year.”

The JSE all share gained 0.29% to 73,218 points, with major indices mixed, while the top 40 added 0.43%.

Investors are watching a string of corporate earnings to gauge how companies have been doing in a highinflation environment. Analysts say strong economic activity is also supporting earnings.

At 5.25pm, the Dow Jones industrial average was 0.42% firmer at 38,586 points and the S&P 500 added 0.17%. In Europe, the FTSE 100 gained 0.55%, France’s CAC 40 0.84% and Germany ’ s DAX 0.51%.

In the UK, initial figures from the office for national statistics showed on Thursday that the UK economy slipped into a technical recession in the final quarter of last year.

The country’s GDP shrank by 0.3% in the final three months of the year, notching the second consecutive quarterly decline. Though there is no official definition of a recession, two straight quarters of negative growth is widely considered a technical recession.

The rand held steady below the R19 against the dollar mark on the day, reaching the intraday best of R18.9228/$. At 5.36pm, it had strengthened 0.43% to R18.9668/$ and 0.23% to R23.8812/£, while it was little changed at R20.4335/€. The euro was 0.43% firmer at $1.0773.

Gold gained 0.53% to $2,001.89/oz and platinum 1.15% to $900.24/oz. Brent crude was 1.75% firmer at $82.55 a barrel.