Sanlam Private Wealth Morning Digest Tuesday 19 June 2018

American Markets

Wall Street ended mostly lower on Monday, with the Dow Jones ending in negative territory for the fifth consecutive session. However, indices trimmed some of their worst losses, as an uptick in energy and technology shares partly offset concerns over a possible trade war with China. The Dow Jones led the region’s losses, down 0.41%, dragged lower by a 3.43% decline in Intel and a 0.88% drop in Boeing. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 shed 0.21%, affected by a 1.5% decline in the S&P consumer staples sector. The NASDAQ managed to end marginally higher, with the index adding 0.01% to close at 7,747.03 index points, buoyed by a 3.53% surge in Tesla.

Local Markets

The JSE got off to a poor start on Monday, weighed down by risk-off sentiment following increased concerns over a possible trade war between China and the US. In addition, it proved to be a subdued session of trade, partly due to an unspecified technical problem on the JSE which caused trade to start two hours late. The All Share index settled 0.73% lower at 57,236.80 index points, underperforming a 0.63% decline on the Top 40. The banking index featured among the worst performers, down 2.87%, followed by a 2.84% decline among general retailers. In contrast, the gold mining index managed to add 1.55%, while the resource index also ended higher.