/ 9 September 2008

JSE stays weak on miners, but financials gain

The JSE remained weaker at noon on Tuesday, pressured by miners on faltering commodity prices, but financials continued to post modest gains.

The JSE remained weaker at noon on Tuesday, pressured by miners on faltering commodity prices, but financials continued to post modest gains, traders said.

“Commodities are still battling to find stable ground and it is still uncertain what will happen to commodity prices at the moment,” one trader said.

Stocks remained mostly in negative territory over the morning, in what traders said was a combination of profit taking following Monday’s strong run and weaker commodity prices.

However, by noon one trader said: “It’s a mixed bag on the market.”

The all share index was 0,80% lower. Resources were down 2,39% and gold and platinum shares were down 1,82% and 2,78% respectively.

Industrials gained 0,31% and financials gained 0,57%, while banks improved 0,35%.

The rand was at 7,86 from 7,90 when the JSE closed on Monday, while gold was last quoted at $801,13 a troy ounce from $800,35 at the JSE’s last close.

Platinum was trading at $1 301/oz, from the previous close of $1 352/oz. Brent crude was at $101,70 per barrel, from its previous close of $103,44.

Dow Jones newswires reports that the FTSE 100 was up 1,1% to 5 508,1, edging lower after hitting a morning high of 5 522,4, but still in positive
territory. The release of the United Kingdom’s industrial production data showing a decline again in July sparked economic concerns.

A trader said: “The story is still with the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac bailout, though some of the momentum yesterday may be dissipating.”

On the JSE, Anglo American lost 2,06%, or R6,91 to R327,94 and BHP Billiton was down 3,24%, or R6,75 to R201,50.

Sasol shed 1,64%, or R6,18, to R370,82. Gold miner AngloGold lost R1,50 to R188,50, while Harmony gave up 4,07%, or R2,50 to R59.

Platinum miner Angloplat was down 1,69% or R14,48, to R840,02 and Impala Platinum was down 2,84%, or R5,74, to R196,26.

Diamond miner Tawana remained unchanged at 38 cents. This is after the miner reported the narrowing of its financial loss for the six months to end June 2008.

The company posted a loss from continuing operations of $1,3-million, compared with a loss of $3,5-million reported the period before. Basic earnings per share were 0,012 cents versus 0,040 cents a year ago.

Elsewhere on the JSE, SABMiller was down 80 cents to R170.

Among banks, Standard Bank gained 1,10%, or R1,05, to R96,20 and Absa gained 50 cents to R113,50.

Old Mutual was up 10 cents to R14,18, while Sanlam lost two cents to R18,22 rand.

MTN group gained 1,41% or R1,72 to R123,72, while Telkom lost 10 cents to R131,40. – I-Net Bridge