After rallying to another record high on Monday, the JSE drifted weaker at the opening on Tuesday, with petrochemicals group Sasol coming off following an easing in the oil price. Early volumes were light.
By 9.22am, the all share index shed 0,14%. Resources retreated 0,5%, with the gold and platinum mining indices losing 1,02% and 0,59% respectively.
Financials dipped 0,07% and the banks index weakened 0,17%. The all share industrial index added 0,18%, however.
The rand was bid at 6,43 per dollar from 6,41 when the JSE closed on Monday, while gold was quoted at $441,75 a troy ounce from $441,60/oz at the JSE’s last close.
“It has been bit of a slow start,” a dealer said. “The market is a tad weaker, but it varies from sector to sector.”
She added that there seemed to be a bit of profit taking under way in stocks that had a strong run on Monday.
Sasol, which rallied to a record high on Monday on the back of a rampant oil price, had come off in line with crude.
Sasol shares were 1,59% or R3,50 in the red at R217, while BHP Billiton, which also has exposure to oil, was off 30 cents at R99,70.
AngloPlat, which also performed solidly on Monday, slipped 1,05% or R3,50 to R330.
AngloGold Ashanti lost 1,01% or R2,36 to R231,01 and Gold Fields fell 1,79% or R1,37 to R75.
Banking group FirstRand surrendered nine cents to R16,50 and Nedbank was down 49 cents at R88.
On the market’s upside, Mittal Steel strengthened 51 cents to R55,40, while Kumba climbed 60 cents to R81,10.
Media group Naspers added 65 cents to R107,90 and London-listed IT group Dimension Data jumped 2,84% or 12 cents to R4,35.
Swiss-listed luxury goods group Richemont rose nine cents to R24,69.
AFX reports that United States stocks closed higher on Monday, getting some relief from lower crude prices and an unveiling of a set of bold new restructuring moves by Agilent Technologies.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 34,07 points at 10 634, the S&P 500 Index added 3,48 points at 1 233, and the Nasdaq Composite Index
rose 10,14 points to 2 167.
Volume was relatively light, with 1,27-billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange and 1,37-billion shares changing hands on the Nasdaq. – I-Net Bridge