Profit taking sees JSE end flat
November 12, 2009
The JSE ended flat on Thursday, up 25 points, having seen a day of profit taking with a local trader noting that that the bourse was "still doing well" taking into account its recent gains.
At 5pm the JSE all share index had edged up 0.10 percent, with resources weakening 0.29 percent and platinum producers falling 1.99 percent, but gold miners edged up 0.39 percent. Banks collected 0.22 percent, financials inched 0.19 percent higher and industrials put on 0.49 percent.
The rand was bid at R7.44/$, from R7.37/$ when the JSE closed on Wednesday. Gold was quoted at $1 114/oz from $1 116.80 at the JSE's last close, and platinum was at $1 365/oz, from $1 361.50/oz at its previous close.
"We ended flat, but we were well off our lows," the trader said.
"US jobless figures came out positive for that economy. We are still doing pretty well considering the gains we have had. It shows that buyers are still there when the market pulls back."
"We were a bit directionless, and before the figures came out there was some uncertainty. The dollar has been strengthening and gold has come off a bit."
"Generally things still look positive. We are volatile intraday. In the last while we have seen some big swings, but the trend is still that buyers come in when the market slips," he said.
"There are some shares that are down. They are seeing a bit of selling and are holding the market back a bit," he added.
Dow Jones Newswire reported that US stocks moved modestly lower on Thursday morning as investors were disappointed by Wal-Mart's holiday profit outlook, while a slide in crude oil futures weighed on the energy and utilities sectors and the dollar climbed.
The declines came despite a bigger-than-expected drop in weekly jobless claims to the lowest level since January 3.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was recently down 18 points, or 0.2 percent, to 10273. Pharmaceutical components Merck, Procter & Gamble, and Pfizer had some of the biggest declines, off more than 0.6 percent each.
Cisco was also down, sliding 0.7 percent after Hewlett-Packard announced plans to acquire networking-equipment maker 3Com. The deal is expected to help H-P compete against Cisco.
Wal-Mart led the measure's gainers, rising 1 percent despite its disappointing guidance, as its fiscal third-quarter earnings did rise 3.2 percent.
The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 0.3 percent, led by its energy and utility sectors as crude oil futures slipped to $78.30 recently. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.1 percent.
The declines came as investors were disappointed by Wal-Mart's holiday profit outlook, as well as the discount retail giant's projection for US same-store-sales to be flat for the fourth quarter.
"What it's telling us is things are tougher on Main Street than might have been expected to unfold," said John Stoltzfus, senior market strategist at Ticonderoga Securities.
However, shortly before the local market closed, the DJIA had turned around and had edged up 0.22 percent.
Back in Johannesburg, Anglo American Plc added R2.69 to R309.11, but BHP Billiton lost R1.01 to R223.49.
Petrochemicals group Sasol shed R4.96, or 1.67 percent, to R291.55.
AngloGold Ashanti rose R5.79, or 1.80 percent, to R327.95 while Gold Fields eased 50c to R108.50 and Harmony lost R1.53, or 1.90 percent, to R78.97.
Platinum miner Anglo Platinum declined R10.75, or 1.55 percent, to R681, Impala Platinum fell R4.10, or 2.33 percent, to R171.50 and Lonmin decreased R1.18 to R201.32.
Elsewhere on the JSE, SABMiller was up R1.50 to R205.65 and British American Tobacco firmed R2.47, or 1.01 percent, to R246.02, but Barloworld was down 80c, or 1.58 percent, to R49.70.
Among banks, Nedbank gained R1.40, or 1.17 percent, to R120.95 and FirstRand collected 28c, or 1.62 percent, to R17.58.
Media group Naspers lost R3, or 1.06 percent, to R281.
Retailer Pick n Pay gave up 44c, or 1.09 percent, to R39.83, Lewis declined 78c, or 1.50 percent, to R51.20 and Foschini shed R1.63, or 2.71 percent, to R58.59, but Shoprite added 86c, or 1.36 percent, to R64.01.
Among telecommunications groups, MTN Group firmed R3.99, or 3.50 percent, to R118, Vodacom collected 90c, or 1.63 percent, to R56 and Telkom edged up 25c to R42.25.
Fishing and allied services group Oceana weakened 26c to R27. It earlier reported that its diluted headline earnings per share for the year ended September 2009 were 271.5c, up 16 percent from the 234.3c reported in 2008.
A final dividend of 153c per share was declared which, together with the interim dividend of 31c, brings the total dividend for the year to 184c per share, an increase of 18 percent on the 2008 total dividend of 156c.
Revenue for the period was at R3.3-billion, up 10 percent from R3.0-billion before. Operating profit for the period at R430.2-million was up 31 percent from the R329.0-million before. - I-Net Bridge
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