The JSE was in the red in noon trade on Thursday, dragged down by weakness in heavyweight resources stocks offshore as well as futures activity related to the closeout which commenced at 12 noon.
By 12:07, the all share and all share industrial indices were down 0,33% and 0,29% respectively. Resources retreated 0,56% and the platinum mining index
lost 1,39%, but the gold mining index gained 0,51%. Financials dipped 0,06%, but the banks index was 0,24 better.
The rand was bid at 6,20 per dollar from 6,18 when the JSE closed on Wednesday, while gold was quoted at $552,36 a troy ounce from $556,59/oz at the JSE’s last close.
“I’m surprised the market is weaker. It must be derivatives activity. Asia was down today, but generally foreign markets have been strong,” a dealer said.
He added that resources heavyweights BHP Billiton and Anglo American were sharply lower in London. Miners had had a very strong day on Wednesday and people were taking some money off the table.
The dealer noted that while down, the JSE was well off its lows seen early in the morning.
On the resources index, Anglo eased 63 cents to R221,37 and BHP Billiton lost 72 cents to R105,98.
Petrochemicals group Sasol slipped 1,14% or R2,60 to R225,90.
Impala Platinum, which was up 6% on Wednesday, dropped 3,33% or R37 to R1 075.
Harmony Gold, however, jumped 2,18% or R1,93 to R90,38.
On the all share industrial index, London-listed brewer SABMiller was 38 cents softer at R120,92.
Mittal Steel was 1,25% or 80 cents softer at R63,20.
While transport and logistics group Imperial was down R1,45 at R161,50, it earlier traded at a record high of R165.
MTN Group eased 32 cents to R61,08, but Telkom climbed 66 cents to R156,66.
Construction group Murray & Roberts weakened 1,96% or 51 cents to R25,50, while Aveng was off 1,23% or 30 cents to R24.
London-listed financial services group Old Mutual fell 19 cents to R20,83, although it earlier traded at a record high of R21,50.
Sanlam shed 12 cents to R16,68 and Liberty Group was 68 cents lower at R87,44.
Banking group FirstRand firmed 1% or 20 cents to R20,20 and Nedbank was up 80 cents at R126,80.
While investment company Remgro gave up 99 cents to trade at R137,01, it earlier traded at an all-time high of R140. – I-Net Bridge