The JSE was mixed by midday on Wednesday, with the resources index 341 points in the red, but some buying interest was starting to stir in industrials, retailers and banks, as well as gold.
By 12.27pm, the all-share index was up 0,12%, or 28 points, with financials and industrials still leading the way as they moved up 0,84% and 0,82% respectively. Banks also put in a good performance as they added 0,71% for the day so far. The laggards came in resources, with the index down 0,81%. However, some interest was seen in gold and the index edged up 0,66%, while platinum was 0,17% in the green.
The rand was bid at 7,91 per dollar from 7,78 when the JSE closed on Tuesday, while gold was quoted at $578,80 a troy ounce from $581,90/oz at the JSE’s last close.
“The market is mixed at the moment but we are seeing some buying in the local stocks like banks and retailers, despite the rand being dramatically weaker,” said Afrifocus portfolio manager Ferdi Heyneke.
“There is some value in banks and it seems a lot of the rate news has been discounted,” he added.
“The industrials were looking pretty steady as well,” he said.
“There was also some strength in the rand hedges,” he added. “Gold shares are volatile but the gold price is ticking up and there has been some buying.”
“Sasol has also been volatile on the low oil price, but there has been some buying support,” he added.
“The market is in an uncertain mode with the rates decision next week, where we are not so much concerned about if it will be up, but by how much,” he said.
“However, looking at today’s [Wednesday] activity the market seems to have discounted a lot of this,” concluded Heyneke.
In company news, diversified industrial group Barloworld said on Wednesday that it expected headline earnings per share and earnings per share from continuing operations for the year ended September 30 2006 to be 25% to 35% higher than the comparable period last year. The share price was last up R3,40 to R132,15.
Anglo American, however, was down 260c to R323, and BHP Billiton was off 241c to R131,53.
Petrochemicals group Sasol lost 324c to R239,66.
Among gold counters AngloGold Ashanti was up 378c to R288.
AngloPlat, meanwhile, advanced 400c to R782.
Industrials looked good, with global brewing giant SABMiller up R1,88 to R146,90 and Bidvest was up by R2,50 to R112,50.
Of the home-brewed stocks, Telkom bolted up by R1,50 to R135,50.
Among the banks Nedbank, was 20c lighter at R110,50 but Standard Bank collected 90c to R78,70, while among the financials Santam was 51c in the green at R76,01 and Liberty International stood out from the crowd as it gained R4,78 to R183,80. — I-Net Bridge