BUSINESS NEWS - Things were bad enough in South Africa before US President Donald Trump unexpectedly announced punitive import tariffs on countries that “take advantage” of America by exporting much more to the US than they import, or by restricting US exports with their own import tariffs.
The announcement of import tariffs as high as 60% on exporters targeting the lucrative US market sent share prices, exchange rates, commodity prices and bond yields reeling worldwide.
The JSE All Share Index fell by 13% from above 90 000 points to 78 000 points and the rand declined from an already weak R18.12 per dollar to an intra-day low of R19.78. The rand hit a low of R21.90 to the euro and R25.42 to the British pound.
The London Stock Exchange fell 11%. US markets were not spared either, as the fall of 9% in the Dow Jones illustrates.
Markets did not recovery fully after Trump suddenly put the tariffs on hold for 90 days to facilitate negotiations.
The Dow jumped nearly 3 000 points, but is still 4% below the 42 000 points it was at before the tariff announcement that shook the world.
The FTSE 100 index won back some losses but is still 6% lower than it was.
Locally, the main JSE indexes recovered to very close to previous levels – only because the dramatic fall in the rand boosted the rand value of the large international companies that are the largest components of the indexes.
Read more on Caxton publication, The Citizen
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