Consolidation sees JSE end flat
November 10, 2009
The JSE ended flat on Tuesday, held back by resource counters in a quiet session which saw the bourse digesting recent moves, a trader said.
At 5pm the JSE all share index was flat, up 0.12 percent, with resources weakening 0.17 percent, but gold producers edged up 0.22 percent and platinum miners collected 0.59 percent. Banks advanced 1.66 percent and financials rose 1.29 percent, but industrials were flat, down 0.15 percent.
The rand was bid at R7.41/$ from R7.46/$ when the JSE closed on Monday. Gold was quoted at $1 101.65/oz from $1 106.70/oz at the JSE's last close, and platinum was at $1 356/oz, from $1 358/oz at its previous close.
"We ended flat, it was a very quiet day," a trader said.
"Industrials and financials didn't do so badly, but it's the heavyweights keeping us down, the gold price came off the all-time high."
"The Dow opened lower and that is keeping us down too. There was no direction from the US."
"The rand is still strong and it's likely holding back these resources, but it's more of the dollar weakening. The market is also digesting recent moves," she said.
US stocks opened lower, but managed to pare losses.
Dow Jones Newswire reported that US stocks were trading slightly higher on Tuesday, as the materials and financial sectors retreated after leading Monday's jump, but their declines were offset by gains in most other sectors, led by consumer companies.
The action follows a big Monday rally that sent the Dow to its highest finish in 13 months and was its second 200-point gain in three trading days.
"The key is, is there any follow-through?" said Steve Sosnick, equity risk manager with Interactive Brokers Group's Timber Hill LLC.
Sosnick noted that stocks' Monday surge came after a weekend meeting of G20 finance ministers in Scotland, where there was consensus that the current global economic activity is on fragile ground and that various countries' stimulus efforts should continue a while longer.
There was little other news to sway investors on Monday, and Tuesday's schedule looks similarly thin.
There are no major economic reports due until the weekly jobs report on Thursday morning.
"With little on the horizon still in terms of major corporate earnings and major economic releases, the question becomes, 'does the market stay focused on liquidity, or think it got ahead of itself?'"
It appears investors and traders are still trying to make that decision.
Stocks tend to move in the opposite direction of the dollar, as investors tend to buy the dollar when they are looking for safety and they flock to stocks when their appetites for risk increase.
However, Tuesday's trading saw both the dollar and stocks moving slightly higher. Treasuries, another safe-haven investment, were also higher.
The two-year note was recently up 1/32 to yield 0.843 percent, while the 10-year note climbed 9/32 to yield 3.452 percent.
At the time the JSE closed, the DJIA was last flat, up 0.03 percent.
Among equity movers on the JSE, Anglo American Plc lost R6.06, or 1.97 percent, to R301.40 while BHP Billiton collected 79c to R220.40.
Petrochemicals group Sasol gained R3, or 1.02 percent, to R298.
Kumba Iron Ore advanced R3.51, or 1.47 percent, to R243 and Highveld Steel was up 72c, or 1.14 percent, to R63.72.
AngloGold Ashanti added R2.15 to R315.05 and Gold Fields edged up 40c to R107.30, but Harmony declined 91c, or 1.12 percent, to R80.50.
DRDGold gave up 25c, or 5.81 percent, to R4.05. DRD announced on Monday that it was applying for judicial management for its Blyvooruitzicht mine.
Platinum miner Anglo Platinum firmed R7.03, or 1.04 percent, to R685 and Impala Platinum was up R1 to R174, but Lonmin shed R6.75, or 3.33 percent, to R196.
Elsewhere on the JSE, SABMiller lost R2.28, or 1.10 percent, to R204.62 but Bidvest rose R3.75, or 3.15 percent, to R122.75 and Imperial gathered R2.23, or 2.81 percent, to R81.60.
Banker Standard Bank was up R1.56, or 1.63 percent, to R97.46, Nedbank rose R2.20, or 1.90 percent, to R117.90, Absa added R2.54, or 2.07 percent, to R125.04 and FirstRand put on 32c, or 1.86 percent, to R17.50.
Financial services group Old Mutual was up 15c, or 1.11 percent, to R13.65 and Sanlam added 28c, or 1.31 percent, to R21.65.
Sugar group Tongaat Hulett declined R2.20, or 2.12 percent, to R101.75.
Retailer Woolies rose 40c, or 2.42 percent, to R16.90 and Truworths put on 70c, or 1.65 percent, to R43.10, but JD Group weakened 80c, or 1.93 percent, to R40.65 and Steinhoff was down 24c, or 1.32 percent, to R17.95.
Liberty International gained R1.02, or 1.81 percent, to R57.40.
Construction group Aveng rose R1.93, or 4.88 percent, to R41.48.
Telecommunications group MTN Group was off 86c to R112.89 and Telkom lost 45c, or 1.07 percent, to R41.65, but Vodacom put on R1.48, or 2.85 percent, to R53.50.
Medi-Clinic was down 25c, or 1.10 percent, to R22.50. The hospital group earlier reported that diluted headline earnings per share for the six months ended September had increased by 15 percent from 48.4c to 56c.
This was achieved on the back of a 12 percent growth in revenue from R7.496-billion to R8.363-billion. The group declared a 6.5 percent increase in the dividend per share for the interim period from 21.6c to 23c. - I-Net Bridge
|
|
