The JSE was treading water just before midday on Monday, with the overall index just marginally weaker after a scrappy morning’s trade that lacked any real direction. The bank holiday in the United Kingdom made for extremely light volumes — not even a billion rand worth of shares had changed hands.
By 11.50am, the all-share and all-share industrial indices both eased 0,12%. Resources retreated 0,2%, with the gold- and platinum-mining indices losing 0,89% and 0,42% respectively. The financial index was flattish (+0,03%), despite a 0,25% loss in the banks index.
The rand was bid at 7,16 per dollar from 7,19 when the JSE closed on Friday, while gold was quoted at 623,75 a troy ounce from $622,17/oz at the JSE’s last close.
“With London closed, everyone is on standby. No one is prepared to commit themselves to the market,” a dealer said. “Value traded isn’t even a billion yet. It shows what’s driving — or not driving — the market. There is very little activity behind the movements that are taking place.”
A second dealer expressed similar views, saying that the JSE was looking “very scrappy” at the moment, with no real drivers.
On the resources index, London-listed Anglo American weakened R1,52 to R315,53, but BHP Billiton climbed R1,25 to R136,50.
Petrochemicals group Sasol slipped R1,50 to R257,50.
AngloGold Ashanti shed 1,14% or R1,86 to R336,14 and Gold Fields gave up 1,12% or R1,64 to R144,41.
AngloPlat was off R5,01 at R833,99.
Among industrials, Illovo Sugar dived 7,72% or R1,49 to R17,8.
Food group AVI fell 1,12% or 17c to R15,01.
Mittal Steel was 1,04% or 79c softer at R75,21 and Highveld Steel & Vanadium dropped 4,03% or R2,52 to R60.
Mittal and Highveld on Monday went ex-dividend of R1,43 and R2,50 per share respectively.
Cellular network operator MTN Group was down 40c at R58,10.
Retailer Foschini weakened 1,69% or 76c to R44,24 and Woolies surrendered 1,19% or 16c to R13,25.
On the upside, services group Bidvest was 35c better at R105,40.
Media group Naspers notched up R1,19 to R123,49, while Primedia perked up 1,64% or 25c to R15,50.
Primedia announced on Monday that its sport division, Primedia Sport, has acquired a 70% shareholding in Warwick Sport and Media, one of South Africa’s leading corporate hospitality and event management companies.
Pulp and paper producer Sappi was 60c stronger at R90,20.
On the financial front, investment company Remgro rallied 1,14% or R1,60 to R141,70.
London-listed real estate group Liberty International jumped 1,04% or R1,58 to R153,50 — a record high.
Short-term insurer Mutual and Federal was 1,41% or 50c firmer at R36.
Life insurer Liberty Group gained 30c to R71,30, but London-listed Old Mutual dipped 4c to R21,30.
Banking group Absa surrendered 1,73% or R1,70 to R96,80 after going ex-dividend of R2,08 per share.
Standard Bank was down 20c at R75,59 and Nedbank slipped 20c to R102,80.
FirstRand, however, inched 4c higher to R17,34, while its major shareholder RMB Holdings was up 19c at R26,20. — I-Net Bridge