After moving to an all-time high in early trade, the JSE declined on Tuesday due to the stronger rand, the firm oil price and jitters about the next direction in the market, brokers said.
By 12.35pm, the all-share index was down 0,1% at 16 457,16, having reached a record 16 472,83 in opening trade. Resources declined 0,01% and the gold-mining index soared 0,34%, but the platinum-mining index lost 2,02%.
Industrials added 0,13%, while the financial and banks indices fell 0,62% and 0,47% respectively.
The rand was bid at R6,37 per dollar from R6,41 when the JSE closed on Monday, while gold was quoted at $469,39 a troy ounce from $465,95/oz at the JSE’s last close.
“The JSE is lower on jitters in the market about the next direction that the market will take. The market is also waiting for the result of the United States Federal Open Market Committee this evening,” a Johannesburg broker said.
In the gold sector, AngloGold Ashanti was quoted at R279, up 30 cents or 0,1%, Gold Fields was last quoted at R91,01, up 104 cents or 1,2%, and Harmony Gold lost 3,6% or R2,47 to be quoted at R66,12.
Investment bank Citigroup on Tuesday upgraded Anglo American to “buy” from “hold” at Citigroup.
Anglo was last quoted at R185,50, up 305 cents or 1,7%, and BHP Billiton was last at R100,80, down 30 cents or 0,3% from its previous close.
Before the market opened, financial-services group FirstRand reported a 32% increase in headline earnings to R7,6-billion for the year to the end of June.
FirstRand was last quoted at R16,40, down 20 cents or 1,2%.
Shares in mining group Aflease Gold and Uranium Resources rose to an all-time high of R7,20 in early trade and were last quoted at R7,05, up 2,9% or 20 cents from its previous close.
The platinum price on Tuesday rose to a 16-month high of $932,50 a troy ounce.
World number-one platinum miner Anglo Platinum lost 2,1% to R334,01, rival Impala Platinum fell 1,6% to R680 and Lonmin declined 0,7% or 99 cents to R144,01.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 84,31 points, or 0,8%, to 10 557,63, with 28 of its 30 components in negative territory. The S&P 500 ended down 6,89 points at 1 231,02 and the Nasdaq composite down 15,09 points at 2 145,26.
The Nikkei 225 ended up 189,89 points at 13 148,57, its highest close since June 11 2001 when it ended at 13 226,48. At one stage, it touched a high of 13 159,39. — I-Net Bridge