Profit-taking helped the JSE catch its breath on Friday after its good rally on Thursday, which led the bourse to dip 0,82% by midday.
The platinum-mining index gave up 2,09%, resources lost 1,11% and the gold-mining index eased 0,09%. Industrials weakened 0,69%, financials shed 0,17% and banks picked up 0,15%.
The rand was bid at 7,79 to the United States dollar from 7,78 when the JSE closed on Thursday, while gold was quoted at $946.45 a troy ounce from $945,13/oz at the JSE’s last close.
“The market is a bit more relaxed today [Friday]. It had a remarkable week, which was driven by resources — and it has been a lot stronger than what we thought it would be. No one thought that the JSE would be anywhere near these levels,” said a local equities trader.
On Thursday, the JSE’s broader all-share index broke through the 30 000 level — which it hasn’t seen since last year — to close at 30 181,77 points, driven by rallies among miners and resources.
The trader said that neither industrials nor banks and financials have kept up with the pace of the resource and mining stocks.
“Resources have hit new highs, whereas banks have been lagging behind,” he said.
On Thursday, the resource index hit a new all-time high of 67 655,992 points, and the platinum-mining index rallied to a fresh high of 135,87 points.
“The JSE is down today [Friday] because of profit-taking. It couldn’t run at that pace for too long, and it needed to take a break after those kinds of runs. The guys need to catch their breath and get a grip of things,” he said.
In the JSE’s resources sector, BHP Billiton dipped R2,31 to R249,69, Anglo American lost R5,70, or 1,14%, to R492,80 and Sasol gave up R4,49, or 1,13%, to R391,51.
Gold counter AngloGold Ashanti edged up 50 cents to R282,50 but Harmony was down 49 cents to R94,51.
Platinum-mining stock Anglo Platinum pulled back R25, or 1,91%, to R1 281 and Impala Platinum dropped R8,24, or 2,45%, to R328,76.
Shares in uranium producer Uranium One tumbled R4,70, or 11,01%, to R38 after it slashed its production forecast and announced that its CEO, South African Neal Froneman, had quit.
Marine transportation group Trencor lifted 50 cents, or 1,96%, to R26. It earlier reported adjusted diluted headline earnings per share to 214 cents for the year to December from 175 cents a year ago.
Brewer SABMiller fell R4,19, or 2,47%, to R165,30.
Absa was off R1,06 to R109,74 but Nedbank recovered eight cents to R114,68 and Standard Bank improved 50 cents to R96,50. — I-Net Bridge