JSE ends flat on weak Wall Street
November 24, 2009
By Palesa Motloung
The JSE ended flat on Tuesday moving in line with a sideways Wall Street, with a local trader saying the bourse was seeing some buying, but with market players remaining cautious.
At 5pm the JSE all share index was flat, down 0.17%, resources weakened 0.59%, gold producers fell 2.40% and platinum counters declined 0.72%. Banks and financials collected 0.69% and 0.45% respectively, while industrials were unchanged.
The rand was bid at R7.49/$ from R7.47/$ when the JSE closed on Monday. Gold was quoted at $1 164.32/oz from $1 170.60 at the JSE's last close, and platinum was at $1 454/oz from $1 452/oz at its previous close.
"We were down this morning, but we ended flat. The GDP figures were better than expected, I think the market still has a bit of legs to it," the trader said.
"The Dow is slightly down. I think there is still a bit of upside in the market; markets just don't want to fall.
"The overseas guys are buying and pushing the market up, but our local guys are selling. The heavyweights are looking a bit pricey. I wouldn't rush into the market. The guys are a bit cautious," he said.
Dow Jones Newswire reported that US stocks opened lower on Tuesday, led by the energy and financial sectors as crude-oil futures fell and worries about the financial sector increased after China's banking regulator warned the nation's lenders to strictly comply with capital requirements or face sanctions.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 60 points, or 0.6%, to 10389, recently. Boeing led the measure's declines, dropping 1.7%. Hewlett-Packard was also among the measure's worst performers, falling 1.1% despite the company reporting a 14% jump in quarterly profit, as investors were disappointed by an 8.4% drop in revenue in the quarter.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.2%. The Standard & Poor's 500 edged 0.1% lower. Declines in its energy and financial sectors were offset by gains in its telecoms and health-care categories.
The Commerce Department's revisions to several of its third-quarter estimates tempered sentiment on Tuesday. The revisions showed lower gross domestic product and consumer spending and a wider trade deficit than previously estimated.
However, that was offset in part by the fifth monthly increase in US home prices in September, as well as a sequential rise in home prices in the third quarter, according to the S&P Case-Shiller home-prices indexes.
Third-quarter US GDP was revised lower, to 2.8% from the 3.5% gain originally estimated, although the revision was in line with forecasts.
It showed overall consumer spending rose 2.9% in the third quarter and contributed 2.1 percentage points to GDP at annual rates, smaller than prior estimates. A wider trade deficit also contributed to the lower third-quarter GDP number. Still, the rise in GDP was the first since the second quarter of 2008 and the strongest in nearly two years.
At the time the JSE closed, the Dow had weakened 0.47%.
Among equity movers on the JSE, Anglo American Plc added R2 to R326.75, but BHP Billiton moved R3, or 1.29%, lower to R230. Sasol advanced R1.79 to R299.98.
ArcelorMittal was up R1.42, or 1.32%, to R109.40, but Highveld Steel declined 95 cents, or 1.46%, to R64. Kumba Iron Ore collected R1.40 to R262.90. It earlier said it expected exports to reach 34 million tons in 2009. The company exported over 24 million tons of iron ore in 2008.
It attributed the increases in exports to production increases and reduced domestic demand from ArcelorMittal SA, which buys an estimated 2.5 million tons a year from Kumba.
AngloGold Ashanti fell R10.75, or 3.15%, to R330, Gold Fields was down R2, or 1.80%, to R109 and Harmony declined 95 cents, or 1.18%, to R79.75.
Anglo Platinum shed R2.48 to R736, Impala Platinum was R1.69 weaker at R172.81 and Lonmin was off R2.30, or 1.04%, to R218.70.
In diversified miners, African Rainbow was up R2.40, or 1.49%, to R163.40 and Hulamin put on 31 cents, or 2.33%, to R13.60.
Among industrials on the JSE, SABMiller rose R1 to R221 and Imperial firmed R3.10, or 3.79%, to R85, but British American Tobacco gave up R3.20, or 1.32%, to R238.40.
Fast-moving consumer goods group Tiger Brands firmed R3.10, or 1.94%, to R163. It earlier reported diluted headline earnings per share of 1 398.4 cents for the year ended September 30 vs 1 517 cents earlier.
Headline earnings per share from continuing operations was up 20% at 1 382.1 cents. Earnings per share from continuing operations increased 45% to 1 556.8 cents per share. Tiger Brands' revenue was at R20.64 billion versus R19.17 billion earlier, it said.
Absa added R1.50, or 1.19%, to R127.50 and FirstRand rose 34 cents, or 1.95%, to R17.80. Sugar group Illovo weakened 50 cents, or 1.59%, to R31.
Media group Naspers was down R2.25 to R290, but Avusa put on 75 cents, or 4.62%, to R17.
Among retailers, JD Group declined R1.22, or 2.67%, to R44.48 and Steinhoff weakened 20 cents, or 1.08%, to R18.35, but Mr Price rose 35 cents, or 1.07%, to R33.15.
Aveng weakened 50 cents, or 1.25%, to R39.40 and Murray & Roberts lost R1.63, or 2.99%, to R52.85.
Pharmaceutical company Adcock Ingram gained R2.09, or 4.15%, to R52.49. It earlier reported a 16.4% rise in diluted headline earnings per share to 448.4 cents for the year ended September 2009. HEPS were 16.1% higher at 450.0 cents from 387.6 cents before. A final dividend of 80 cents per share was declared.
The group reported a 21% rise in turnover to R4.0 billion, benefiting from 12% volume growth, the single exit pricing increase and changed product mix. Headline earnings for the year were up 16.5% to R779.3 million.
UCS Group was down 10 cents, or 5.71%, to R1.65. The investment holding company for IT businesses earlier reported a 63.6% decline in diluted headline earnings per share to 11.2 cents from continuing and discontinued operations for the year ended September 2009 from 30.8 cents a year ago.
Diluted HEPS for continuing operations were 4.9 cents from 22.2 cents a year ago, a decline of 77.9%. Revenue for the year was up 29.2% at R1.248 billion. Profit from continuing operations was down 80.1% to R14.87 million, and profit for the year from discontinued operations was 216% lower at R35.70 million. Profit for the year was 62.2% lower at R40.57 million.
MTN Group eased 40 cents to R119 and Telkom gave up 30 cents to 38.85 rand, but Vodacom edged up 15 cents to R58.65.
Telkom CEO Reuben September earlier reiterated the need to get its mobile offering up and running to become South Africa's fourth mobile operator, following a 9% decrease in Telkom South Africa's traffic revenue.
The group said it would spend six billion rand to implement mobility over a five-year period, with an entry stage set for 2010. September said the continuing trend highlighted the imperative need for the group to enter the mobile market, particularly the mobile data and voice market.
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