The JSE Securities Exchange’s (JSE) equity market had not resumed trade at noon on Friday after trade was halted about half an hour earlier.
JSE deputy CEO Nicky Newton-King said trade was suspended after the JSE became aware that many of its members were receiving delayed messages.
She said that the halting of trade was completely unrelated to the JSE recalculating index closing prices from Thursday.
On Thursday evening, the index calculator received incorrect closing share values and calculated incorrect closing index values as a result, she explained.
Newton-King said the JSE has nearly resolved the problem of the incorrect index calculation.
It hoped to resume trade as soon as possible after the second problem of members receiving delayed messages was resolved.
Trade on the JSE was also interrupted on Thursday for technical reasons.
A dealer said that while it was difficult to determine this for certain, it appeared that the JSE had on balance been up when trade was halted.
“We had very strong financial markets. Gold shares, Kumba, Mittal and Sappi were all strong,” he said.
The only weak areas among resources were Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Impala Platinum, he said.
On the industrial market, heavyweights Richemont and SABMiller were both up, as were MTN Group and Telkom.
Barloworld and Bidvest were weaker, however.
The dealer said the JSE was very difficult to read.
The rand was very strong, bid at R6,25 per dollar from R6,31 when the JSE closed on Thursday. The local bond market was also very strong and the JSE was getting very little guidance from offshore.
“Globally, people are trying to digest events in the United States. Everyone is waiting for this afternoon’s jobs numbers, but I think they are going to be overshadowed by events in America — the damage from Hurricane Katrina and how it is going to affect US third-quarter GDP [gross domestic product].
“The big question is whether [US Federal Reserve chairperson Alan] Greenspan will suspend rate hikes — that’s what’s got the dollar hopping,” he concluded.
US non-farm payrolls are predicted to rise by just less than 200 000 in August, according to AFX. — I-Net Bridge