The JSE was weaker just before noon on Friday, dragged down by resources heavyweights Anglo American and BHP Billiton, which were weaker in the United Kingdom. Some pre-weekend profit-taking was also being seen, dealers said.
By 11:53am, the all share index shed 0,25%, while the resources and platinum mining indices retreated 1,19% and 1,99% respectively. Industrials climbed 0,28%, however. Financials firmed 0,51% and the banks index climbed 0,36%. The gold mining index inched 0,1% higher.
The rand was bid at 6,05 per dollar from 6,02 when the JSE closed on Thursday, while gold was quoted at $596,75 a troy ounce from $593,83/oz at the JSE’s last close.
“The market has gone into negative territory,” a dealer said. “A bit of negativity is coming in from offshore.”
He added that while the weaker rand had helped the JSE earlier in the session, at the moment it was not really helping.
“It is Friday and we are seeing some position squaring ahead of the weekend. It’s a short week next week and it is likely to be quiet with lots of people off so we are seeing some negative sentiment.”
While markets are closed next Friday due to the Easter weekend, many players will also be absent on Thursday which is a Jewish holiday, namely Passover.
The dealer said that profit taking was being seen in platinum stocks. When it came to gold counters, there was a big seller out of New York in Harmony, while a player out of Europe was selling AngloGold Ashanti. On the resources index, Anglo lost 1,19% or R3 to R249 and BHP Billiton weakened 1,29% or R1,55 to R119.
Petrochemicals group Sasol slid 1,98% or R4,60 to R227,40.
AngloPlat tumbled 2,17% or R12,50 to R564, while Impala slumped 2,02% or R25 to R1 215.
Harmony was down 90 cents at R95,49 and AngloGold Ashanti shed R2,25 to R323,25, but Gold Fields gained 1,11% or R1,55 to R141.
Diversified miner Kumba jumped 1,28% or R1,50 to R119. Swiss-listed luxury goods group Richemont rose 1,31% or 39 cents to R30,19 and London-listed brewer SABMiller climbed 65 cents to R119,65.
Mittal Steel strengthened 60 cents to R64,70 and pulp and paper producer Sappi firmed 70 cents at R88,70.
Telkom bounced R1,30 to R149,60. Telkom shares dived 7,7% on Thursday after the company announced that it planned to spend R30-billion over the next five years in capital investment on its fixed line operations.
Media group Naspers notched up 1,45% or R1,88 to R131,93.
Illovo Sugar was up 1,48% or 25 cents at R17,15 after trading at a record high of R17,25.
Services group Bidvest, however, shed R1,10 to R109,90, while food group Tiger Brands fell R1,60 to R169.
Retailer Woolies weakened 1,26% or 21 cents to R16,40.
On the financial front, Standard Bank slipped 1,56% or R1,31 to R82,49 after going ex-dividend of R1,45 a share.
Short-term insurer Mutual & Federal dropped 2,78% or R1 to R35, while life assurer Liberty lost 65 cents to R83,75.
Sanlam, however, was 1,82% or 29 cents stronger at R16,20 and London-listed Old Mutual firmed nine cents to R21,39.
After being knocked on Thursday, FirstRand rebounded 2,25% or 44 cents to R20 and its major shareholder RMB Holdings rallied 2,8% or 80 cents to R29,40.
Absa added R1,10 to R118,35. – I-Net Bridge