The JSE was weaker across the board in noon trade on Thursday, knocked by negative world markets and a stronger rand. There was an element of catch-up following the Women’s Day holiday on Wednesday and this exacerbated the bourse’s losses.
By 12.01pm, the all-share and all-share industrial indices shed 1,49% and 1,07% respectively. Resources retreated 1,98%, the gold-mining index lost 1,11% and the platinum-mining index slumped 1,69%. Financials fell 1,14%, while the banks index was 1,07% in the red.
The rand was bid at 6,75 per dollar from 6,82 when the JSE closed on Tuesday, while gold was quoted at $650,25 a troy ounce from $645,25/oz at the JSE’s last close.
“The market is looking very sad. The strongish rand is upsetting it a bit. The Dow was down … and the FTSE has taken a bit of a smack. Our market has fallen pretty much in line with what the FTSE has done,” a dealer said.
He added that the because of Wednesday’s holiday, the JSE had missed two down days in the United States and was playing a bit of catch up.
“Anglo and Billiton are leading the way, but negativity is coming into most stocks at the moment,” he commented.
The dealer said that there was definitely negative sentiment coming through to the market. A number of people were also away, with some locals using Wednesday’s holiday as an opportunity to take a long weekend. A lot of northern hemisphere players were also on their summer holidays.
Volumes were reasonable, however, as people made up the lost day’s trade.
On the JSE’s downside, BHP Billiton dropped 3,9% or R4,80 to R125,30 and Anglo American tumbled 2,11% or R6,25 to R290,25.
Harmony Gold plunged 3,06% or 39c to R90,25, AngloGold Ashanti slipped R3 to R340 and Gold Fields eased 39c to R143,71.
Impala Platinum was off 2,66% or R35 at R1 280 and AngloPlat dipped R6 to R746.
Swiss-listed luxury goods group Richemont surrendered 1,97% or 60c to R29,87 and London-listed brewer SABMiller weakened 2,16% or R2,90 to R131,10.
Food group Tiger Brands fell 1,5% or R2,24 to R146,75.
Cellular network operator MTN Group gave up 1,89% or R1 to R52 while Telkom was down 1,51% or R2 to R130,60.
Retailer Shoprite slid 2,15% or 50c to R22,81.
Massmart, however, strengthened 1,45% or 70c to R49,01 and Mr Price rallied 2,21% or 40c to R18,50.
London-listed IT group Dimension Data strengthened 2.,5% or 10c to R4,35.
Standard Bank slipped 1,47% or R1,09 to R73,31. FirstRand fell 1,53% or 25c to R16,05, Nedbank was 1,66% or R1,75 in the red at R103,50 and Absa was 1,08% or R1,05 softer at R96.
London-listed Old Mutual lost 2,12% or 43c to R19,90. Liberty Group was 2,08% or R1,50 lower at R70,50 and Sanlam shed 14c to R14,81.
Before the opening, Old Mutual reported an 8% increase in life APE sales worldwide to 802-million sterling for the six months to the end of June.
During the same period, unit trust/mutual fund sales increased by a 72% to 4,124-billion sterling.
Liberty Group earlier reported a 34% leap in headline earnings per share from 303,4c to 407,2c for the six months to the end of June.
BEE (black economic empowerment) normalised headline earnings per share for the half-year amounted to 384,9c, which were 32% higher than the 291c reported for the previous comparable six-month period.
The group declared an interim dividend per share of 140c, compared with 126c for the previous comparative period — an increase of 11%.
“Old Mutual’s trading statement was quite positive, but it came down with the rest of the market,” the dealer said. “Liberty’s results were above consensus but it also took a smack. The market just isn’t in a positive frame of mind.” — I-Net Bridge