The JSE Securities Exchange (JSE) was in positive territory in noon trade on Wednesday, with a weaker rand fuelling a rally in heavyweight resources stocks. However, volumes were light as the market adopted a cautious approach ahead of key testimony by United States Federal Reserve chairperson Alan Greenspan later in the day.
By 11.52am, the all-share and all-share industrial indices were up 0,58% and 0,34% respectively. Resources rose 1,08%, the gold-mining index surged 1,62% and the platinum-mining index was 0,59% better. Financials were a marginal 0,11% firmer, while the banks index was flat.
The rand was quoted at R6,69 per dollar from R6,64 when the JSE closed on Tuesday, while gold was quoted at $398,13 an ounce from $398,65/oz at the JSE’s last close.
“The market has been slow this morning — only R600-million has gone through and volumes have been thin all round,” a dealer said. “We have seen the rand weaken from about R6,64 to R6,69 and money has flowed into resources. Gold stocks are leading the gainers after being under pressure yesterday [Tuesday].”
A dealer said earlier that he was expecting the local bourse to tread water ahead of Greenspan’s testimony before the House Budget committee at 4.30pm.
On the JSE’s upside, London-listed diversified resources group Anglo American added 1,09% or R1,60 to R148,50 and BHP Billiton bounced 1,31% or 80 cents to R61,85.
AngloGold Ashanti was 1,65% or R3,80 stronger at R233,70, Gold Fields gained 1,87% or R1,40 to R76,10 and Harmony was 1,79% or R1,34 higher at R76.
AngloPlat ticked up two rand to R291 and Impala improved four rand to R538, but petrochemicals group Sasol dipped 25 cents to R111,50.
Industrials to climb included London-listed brewer SABMiller, which was up 1,36% or R1,16 and at R86,25 — its highest since June 2002.
Swiss-listed luxury goods group Richemont was 10 cents stronger at R17,70 and telecoms group Telkom jumped 1,18% or 90 cents to R77,40.
Brand management group Barloworld advanced 55 cents to R76,25 after trading at R78 earlier in the session.
Transport and logistics group Imperial improved 1,31% or one rand to R77,50.
Furniture group Steinhoff strengthened 1,56% or 13 cents to R8,48 and retailer Massmart rose 1,09% or 40 cents to a best-to-date R37.
On the downside, steel producer Ispat Iscor was 1,29% or 60 cents softer at R46.
Cellular network operator MTN Group was 1,85% or 55 cents in the red at R29,10 after trading as low as R28,70 earlier in the morning.
“There is no news out which explains why MTN is down, but VenFin released good results last night and with over one million VenFin shares having traded, there might have been a switch from MTN to VenFin,” a dealer speculated.
Shares in VenFin, an investment holding company that has a 15% stake in MTN’s rival Vodacom, were 1,71% or 35 cents stronger at R20,85.
After the close on Tuesday, VenFin reported a 16,3% rise in its headline earnings per share for the year to the end of June 2004, to 151,4 cents from 130,2 cents a year earlier. The group declared a dividend for the year of 32,5 cents per share, representing a 30% increase on the 25 cents distributed in 2003.
Other shares to firm on the financial index included Sanlam, which was up seven cents at R9,70, and London-listed Old Mutual, which firmed seven cents to R12,85.
Standard Bank was 14 cents better at R46,04.
Real-estate company Liberty International plc picked up 1,01% or 99 cents to R98,80.
However, Nedcor lost 45 cents to R57,80 and RMB Holdings shed 1,2% or 20 cents to R16,50.
Metropolitan Holdings was 1,75% or 15 cents in the red and Sage slumped 3,03% or five cents to R1,60.
Before the opening, Metropolitan reported a 38% rise in its headline earnings per share for the six months to the end of June 2004, to 30,06 cents from a restated 21,78 cents a year earlier.
The group declared an interim dividend of 20,5 cents per share, representing a 14% increase on the 18 cents distributed in the year-earlier period.
The results were generally in line with market expectations, as the group’s August trading statement had cautioned that its earnings would be between 20% and 40% higher. However, Metropolitan shares were pushed up hard ahead of the results’ release.
Sage reported a headline loss per share of 10,5 cents for the six months ended June 30 2004, from headline earnings per share of 29,8 cents a year earlier. The group attributed this to higher financing costs because of a stronger rand and the higher Absa share price.
The I-Net Bridge consensus forecast of two analysts had been for headline earnings per share of 14,8 cents. — I-Net Bridge