JSE starts week in negative territory

The JSE started the week on a negative note as banks and retailers retreated in risk-off trade‚ with platinum stocks losing out on lower metal prices.

Banks came under pressure following lacklustre interim results from Absa‚ raising concern that other banks would struggle to report strong growth for the present reporting season‚ with the exception of Nedbank‚ which comes off a lower base.

The all share was under pressure as the market sought direction amid flat European markets, after worse-than-expected manufacturing data from Germany.

European stock markets struggled for direction‚ as traders digested another round of earnings reports and a flareup in trade tension between the US and China‚ Dow Jones Newswires reported.

The dollar firmed against the euro‚ which regained some composure towards the JSE’s close‚ paring rand losses.

Brent crude jumped more than 1% to $74‚ but gold and platinum prices remained in the red.

The all share closed 0.45% lower at 56‚861.2 points and the top 40 lost 0.4%.

Banks fell 2.09%‚ platinums 2.01%‚ financials 1.2%‚ the gold index 1.17%‚ food and drug retailers 1.07% and general retailers 0.82%.

Absa lost 2.98% to R166.16 after reporting that interim headline earnings rose 3% to R8bn.