JSE remains in the throws of a sell-off as oil drops to $65

The JSE fell about 1% on Wednesday morning, faltering amid a host of risk events and a falling oil price.

At 9.30am the all share index was down 0.96% to 51,610.2 points and the top-40 had lost 1%. General retailers were down 1.69%, food and drug retailers 1.39%, resources 1.29%, banks 1.06% and industrials 0.9%.

Oil has eased back to $65 a barrel, which analysts said was putting the wind in the dollar’s sails due to decreasing global liquidity.

As oil-producing countries generally recycle dollars back into the global financial system, falling prices reduce liquidity and boost the greenback, said Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking strategists Mehul Daya and Neels Heyneke in a note.

Assuming a fair value of $58 a barrel, this would imply a 3% appreciation of the dollar, which would bring the rand to about R15/$, they said.

Losses on the JSE were broad-based, with general retailers and miners faring worst.

US markets failed to rebound on Tuesday following a sharp sell-off of tech stocks on Monday. Apple’s share price slide continued, with slashed earnings forecasts from two key suppliers raising concern about the outlook for the company’s new iPhone, reported Dow Jones Newswires.

Focus on Wednesday is on US consumer inflation data at 1.30pm local time, and local retail sales data at 11am.

Also being watched is any development around Brexit, amid news that EU and UK negotiators have agreed on a draft deal.

Sasol was down 2.4% to R454.88. British American Tobacco (BAT) lost 1.52% to R535.72, bringing losses for the week so far to 14.59%.

MTN was up 2.54% to R83.10. Naspers was down 1% to R2,573.99.

Gold was flat at $1,202.11/oz while platinum fell 0.59% to $836.63.

Brent crude was 0.2% higher at $65.31 a barrel.