World markets continued to weigh on the JSE on Thursday — pushing the bourse down 0,93% by midday.
At noon, the JSE’s bank index fell 1,87%, financials gave up 1,61% and industrials were 1,4% lower. The platinum mining index declined 1,41%, resources shed 0,38% but the gold mining index advanced 1,69% as the gold price was flirting with the $1 000/oz level.
The rand was bid at 7,96 to the US dollar from 7,80 when the JSE closed on Wednesday, while gold was quoted at $988,55 a troy ounce from $975,90 at the JSE’s last close. Gold had hit an intra-day high of $991,40/oz.
“The JSE is down purely because of the follow through from the US market” one Johannesburg-based trader said.
He explained that world markets were pushed up yesterday [Wednesday] by the news that the US Federal Reserve Bank was going to inject liquidity into the financial market -‒ which was overdone quite a bit.
He said that fundamentally, there were poor variables, and global markets had to pull back today after yesterday’s sharp gains.
“Looking at our market, there isn’t a lot going on. Some of the big runners yesterday and the day before came from the insurance sector, but today we are seeing profit-taking on those stocks such as Sanlam and Old Mutual,” he said.
He added that Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Impala Platinum were all down, which was “symptomatic of the market as a whole”, as these counters make up a significant portion of the JSE.
Anglo American was down R5 to R500 and BHP Billiton fell R1,16 to R245,10. Anglo Platinum inched up 20 cents to R1 250,20 but Impala Platinum lost R7, or 2,09%, to R327,50.
“Gold stocks are up as the gold price looks like it wants to have a go at the $1 000/oz level in the near future,” he said.
Gold mining stock AngloGold Ashanti added 50 cents to R275,50, Gold Fields gained R3, or 2,45%, to R125,25 and Harmony was R3,49, or 3,28% higher, at R109,99.
Elsewhere, Sasol collected R3,50 to R415.
Diversified industrial group Barloworld slipped R3, or 2,69%, to R108,60, while Bidvest weakened R3,77, or 3,2%, to R114,22. Brewer SABMiller improved 40 cents to R171,60 but Richemont was off R1,03, or 2,23%, to R45,12.
Fixed-line operator Telkom was unchanged at R145, while mobile operator MTN group gave up R2,20, or 1,69%, to R127,80.
FirstRand was down 52 cents, or 3,08%, to R16,34 and Nedbank pulled back R2,91, or 2,57%, to R110,29.
Life assurer Sanlam was 74 cents, or 3,58% lower, at R19,93. – I-Net Bridge