The JSE was a mixed bag in noon trade on Tuesday, although the bourse was down overall in line with its global counterparts. An uptick in commodity prices lifted resources stocks, thereby paring losses.
By 12.14pm, the all-share index shed 0,35%. Industrials lost 0,86%, while the financial and banks indices fell 0,44% and 0,76% respectively. Resources rose 0,21%. However, the gold-mining index gained 0,92% and the platinum-mining index climbed 0,54%.
The rand was bid at 7,10 per dollar from 7,08 when the JSE closed on Monday, while gold was quoted at $637,65 a troy ounce from $639,85/oz at the JSE’s last close.
”The market is fairly mixed. It should have been down more — the Dow was down and Eastern markets were down, although both the Hang Seng and Nikkei picked up a bit towards the close,” a dealer said.
He added that the rebound in Asian markets from their lows might have helped the JSE.
”Gold popped up — it was at $634 this morning and now it’s at $637. Commodities have generally picked up and I think that is what has given us the impetus on the positive side.”
On the resources index, London-listed Anglo American dipped 80 cents to R332, but BHP Billiton was 95 cents better at R130,50.
Petrochemicals group Sasol was R1,15 softer at R229,65.
Gold Fields jumped 1,62% or R1,93 to R121,43, Harmony was 69 cents higher at R95 and AngloGold Ashanti inched up 50 cents to R325,50.
Impala Platinum improved 53 cents to R191,03 and AngloPlat inched up R3,25 to R883,25.
Among industrials, Swiss-listed luxury goods group Richemont tumbled 2,49% or R1,02 to R39,90. Remgro slid 1,11% or R2 to R177.
Richemont said before the opening that its sales in the quarter ended December 31 increased by 10% at actual exchange rates compared with the prior period. At constant exchange rates, sales increased by 15%.
London-listed brewer SABMiller eased 62 cents to R167,50.
Cellular network operator MTN Group dropped 2,28% or R1,88 to R80,72.
Furniture retailer Ellerine retreated 2,16% or R1,69 to R76,50.
Foschini shed 1,6% or R1,01 to R62,30 and Woolies weakened 1,33% or 27 cents to R19,97.
Construction company Group Five gave up 41 cents to R48,49 despite releasing a strong trading statement before the opening, in which it said that it expects its earnings per share (EPS) and headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the six months ended December 31 to be from 45% to 55% and 70% to 80% higher than those published for the previous corresponding period of 81 cents and 69 cents respectively.
Ceramic tile and sanitary ware retailer Italtile, however, rallied 2,44% or R5 to R210 after it said that it expects its profit before tax to increase between 20% to 22% for the six months ended December 31.
EPS and HEPS are expected to increase by between 22% and 26% over the prior comparative period.
On the financial front, Sanlam firmed 14 cents to R19,74 but London-listed Old Mutual was 17 cents lower at R24,60.
Absa surrendered 1,5% or R2,06 to R135,50, Nedbank weakened R1,20 to R140,30 and FirstRand fell 15 cents to R23,50 while Standard Bank was 60 cents in the red at R100,50. — Sapa