MICHAEL METELITS, Johannesburg | Friday 5.30pm.
SOUTH African markets continued to pull back from some recent gains on Friday, ending the week with a whimper. Most JSE indices were marginally down with the exception of gold, which rode a higher bullion price up.
Dealers blamed a 127-point loss on the Dow on Thursday for some negative sentiment which didn’t help matters, and bit of profit-taking in the IT sector kept the indices in the red.
The all share lost 4 points or 0,06%, while industrials dropped 6 for a loss of 0,08%. Financials slipped 11 points or 0,12%, while gold jumped 28 points or 2,96% as the price of bullion rose slightly to $253,95.
Low volume and a lack of direction in the bond market kept the benchmark R150 bond trading in a range from 14,52% to 14,56% all day. The bond closed at 14,54%, level with Thursday’s close.
Traders lamented the lack of activity in the currency market, and said it would take some big news to move the rand away from its current R6,09-R6,11 range. The gold price helped keep it at R6,08-R6,09 for most of the day, but the unit finished at R6,10 to the dollar.
In Asia, the Dow’s plunge sparked a sell-off which was more muted in Tokyo than in Hong Kong. Japan’s Nikkei-225 gave up 67 points or 0,38%, while the Hang Seng took Wall Street’s woes more seriously, losing 225 points or 1,66%.
At close of business in Johannesburg, London’s FTSE-100 was down 14 points or 0,23%, while continental exchanges fared better. Frankfurt’s DAX gained 24 points or 0,44%, while Paris’ CAC-40 made 0,20% off a rise of 9 points.