/ 11 July 2008

JSE remains up on resources

South African stocks remained in the black at midday on Friday as resources recovered after recent losses.

Dealers said the JSE was also following the lead of global markets after the Dow closed up 81 points and London was also in the black on Friday.

A report in the New York Times that the United States government is considering plans to take over one or both of the major government-sponsored mortgage enterprises — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — and place them under conservatorship if their problems worsen, is also buoying sentiment on world markets.

By noon, the all-share index was up 0,80%. Resources advanced 1,16%, the gold mining index was flat and the platinum mining index gained 1,

Banks were off 0,14%, financials were unchanged and industrials firmed 0,57%.

The rand was bid at 7,73 to the US dollar from 7,72 when the JSE closed on Thursday, while gold was quoted at $949,90 a troy ounce from $943,20/oz at the JSE’s last close.

“Among the main sectors on the JSE, it is only the real estate and the banking sectors that are down this morning — they are taking a bit of a breather,” said a Pretoria based equities

He added that the JSE definitely took its early cue from international markets.

“Resources are up after a bad week, but I’m surprised that the gold stocks haven’t risen on the higher gold price,” he added.

On the JSE, Anglo American was up R4,58, or 1,01%, at R456,98 and BHP Billiton added R4, or 1,53%, to R266. Sasol advanced R6,02, or 1,41%, to R434,02 as the price of crude oil rose overnight. It was last at $145,11 per barrel, up more than $3 from
its overnight close.

Oil prices are being supported by the Iranian missile tests, the threat of Nigerian militants resuming sabotage attacks and the International Energy
Agency’s warnings of supplies staying

Among gold miners AngloGold Ashanti lost R2,58, or 1,02%, to R250,42, but Harmony added 51 cents to R88,01 and Gold Fields added R1, or 1,09%, to R93.

Platinum miner Angloplat collected R20,60, or 1,8%, to R1 166,50 and Implats was R2,97, or 1,12% better at R268,

The platinum price was up $41,50/oz and was last quoted at $2 038.50/oz.

Among industrials, brewer SABMiller was up R1,39 at R162,37 and Bidvest collected 40 cents to R89,70. However, Imperial shed 60 cents, or 1,29%, to R46.

MTN dipped R1,29, or 1,04%, to R122,96 and Telkom was up R2,25, or 1,64%, at R139,25.

Shares in construction firm Group Five jumped 4,9%, or R1,95, to R41,75, after it said annual fully diluted headline EPS will rise as much as 70%. The group said fully diluted headline earnings per share for
the year to June were expected to be between 60% to 70% higher at between 373 cents per share to 396 cents per

Shares in ArcelorMittal were up 5,08%, or R9,55 at R197,55. On Thursday shares in Coal of Africa, formerly GVM Metals, surged on rumours that ArcelorMittal was planning to bid for the coal company. An analyst said this was on the back of generally improved sentiment for steel, adding “We have seen a recovery from US steel stocks and there’s strong demand globally.”

Coal of Africa was last down 51 cents, or 1,92%, at R25,99, after a 9,5% jump on Thursday.

Shares in junior miner Merafe leapt 24 cents, or 7,87%, to 329 cents, after it said it expects its first half headline earnings per share and earnings per share to be between 425% and 500% higher than those reported for the same period last year. – I-Net Bridge