The JSE Securities Exchange South Africa (JSE) was weaker at midday on Monday on the back of a stronger rand and general lack of buying interest in the market. Volumes were extremely light — less than R400-million-worth of shares had changed hands.
At 11.56am, the all-share and all-share industrial indices were down 0,57% and 0,59% respectively. The resources and gold mining indices were both 0,89% in the red, while the platinum mining index was 0,55% softer. Financials were 0,13% firmer, however, and the banks index was 0,21% in the black.
The rand was quoted at R6,62 per dollar from R6,73 when the JSE closed on Friday, while gold was quoted at $399,75 an ounce, little changed from when the JSE last closed.
The rand rallied on Friday afternoon and evening after the dollar tumbled in the wake of the release of worse-than-expected United States jobs data.
“We’ve had a slow start. The rand was at R6,82 on Friday morning and it is trading at around R6,60 now and the JSE is not getting any direction from Europe where markets are pretty flat … It is a dangerous place to be in. When there is a lack of interest and lack of drivers, markets tend to drift down,” a dealer said.
He added that the losses had been exacerbated by the fact that London-listed Anglo American, the JSE’s heaviest weighted stock, had gone ex-dividend.
Synthetic fuels group Sasol, the JSE’s number five stock, had also reported disappointing results before the opening.
“Sasol’s results were a little worse than expected. The worrying feature is the much lower margins in its synfuels and chemicals business, although in all sectors they were down. The share is holding up pretty well considering,” the dealer commented.
Sasol shares were 1,49% or R1,50 in the red at R99,50.
Before the opening, the group reported a 50% decline in its interim headline earnings per share to 397 cents for the half-year to December 2003, down from 797 cents before.
The key two reasons for the dramatic decline in Sasol’s earnings were a stronger rand and a poor performance at its chemical businesses.
However, the group kept its dividend per share unchanged at 215 cents.
London-listed Anglo American was 1,58% or R2,70 weaker at R168,30 after going went ex-dividend of 262,28 cents per share.
Gold Fields fell 1,12% or 95 cents to R84, Harmony was down one rand at R104 and AngloGold gave up R2,01 to R286.
Impala Platinum was five rand weaker at R583.
On the industrial market, Swiss-listed luxury goods group Richemont retreated 2,03% or 37 cents to R17,83.
Steel producer Iscor surrendered 1,33% or 50 cents to R37,20 and pulp and paper producer Sappi shed 60 cents to R92,40.
IT group Comparex nosedived 54,62% or R5,79 to R4,81.
However, this weakness was not unexpected as it went ex-special dividend of R5,50 per share.
Last month, Comparex decided to return R1,6-billion to its shareholders.
On the financial front, Nedcor eased 1,09% or 69 cents to R62,80 and its parent company Old Mutual plc dipped 10 cents to R11,95.
Standard Bank, however, strengthened 24 cents to R40,15 and niche banking group Investec plc picked up 1,43% or two rand to R142.
Diversified miner BHP Billiton bounced 15 cents to R62,20.
Services group Bidvest was 40 cents better at R53,40 and retailer Pick ‘n Pay jumped 2,04% or 35 cents to R17,50. — I-Net Bridge