The JSE Securities Exchange South Africa (JSE) retreated into the red at the start on Thursday in fairly quiet trade. The opening saw a reverse of the trend over the past two days, with gold stocks gaining ground boosted by a higher bullion price, but heavyweight rand hedge stocks slipping on the back of a firmer currency.
At 0914, the all share index was down 0,37%. The indi-25 was 0,61% weaker, while financials had fallen 0,54%. The resources and IT indices were off 0,30% and 0,38% respectively, while the platinum mining index was flat. On the upside, the gold mining index had bounced 2,20%.
The rand was trading at 8,5390 to the dollar from 8,6463 when the JSE closed on Wednesday, while gold was quoted at $353,40 an ounce from $349,50 at the JSE’s last close.
A dealer said that the opening had once again been fairly quiet.
“The market is weaker on the back of the firmer rand. Resources have come off,” he said. “Banking shares have come off as well which is a bit of an anomaly,” he continued, suggesting that there could be some profit taking after the rally in banking shares earlier this week.
In early trade on the JSE, London-listed diversified resources group Anglo American (AGL) lost 1,02% or R1,28 to R124,70 and BHP Billiton (BIL) was 1,96% or 90 cents weaker at R45,00.
Synthetic fuels group Sasol (SOL) slipped one rand to R102,00.
On the indi-25, Swiss-listed luxury goods group Richemont (RCH) was 1,49% or 24 cents weaker at R15,90.
On the financial index, London-listed financial services group Old Mutual (OML) was 1,06% or 14 cents weaker at R12,10. Commercial bank Standard Bank (SBK) shed 1,27% or 40 cents to R31,20 and FirstRand (FSR) fell 1,60% or 12 cents to R7,37.
The dealer said that the stronger gold shares were the main feature on the JSE’s upside. The Dow lost ground overnight, which tends to benefit the gold sector. Dow Jones Newswires reports that while the Bank of New York ADR Index ended the session down 1,3% at 79,69, gold stocks were a shining point in Wednesday’s trading session. ADRs of Randgold & Exploration Co. gained 11,9% to finish at $10,18, while Gold Fields closed up 5,7% at $14,40. Harmony ADRs rose 6,2% to $17,80.
On the JSE, Randgold (RNG) rocketed 8,37% or R2,24 rand to R29, Gold Fields (GFI) gained 2,87% or R3,39 to R121,40 and Harmony (HAR) was 2,85% or R4,18 stronger at R151. – I-Net-Bridge