JSE little changed ahead of Easter

The JSE remained flat in light trading, as investors seemed reluctant to commit following a strong run.

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The JSE remained flat at noon in light trading on Thursday, as investors seemed reluctant to commit following a strong run yesterday. Investors were taking profits off the table, a trader said.

By 12:07 local time, the JSE all-share index was up 0.10%, with platinum miners rising 0.71% and resources gaining 0.31%. But gold miners fell 0.86%. Banks lost 0.56%, but industrials (-0.01%) and financials (-0.10%) were little changed.

The rand was bid at 6.71 to the dollar from 6.77 at the JSE's close on Wednesday. Gold was quoted at US$1,507.27 a troy ounce from US$1,504.84/oz at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was at $1,816.50/oz, from $1,805.00/oz previously.

“Market players are reluctant to take long positions ahead of the long weekend and given the strong push yesterday,” the trader said. The market was awaiting a barrage of economic and corporate announcements later today, he said.

Dow Jones Newswires reported that European stocks were mildly higher on Thursday, as strong corporate earnings data continued to provide support, although the temptation to book profits ahead of the long Easter weekend break hampered some of the upside.

“It seems global fund allocators still view equities as a more attractive option than either sovereign debt or holding cash, and a clutch of supportive earnings reports across the major markets [has been] enough to prompt the latest wave of buying,” said Ian Williams, strategist at Altium Securities.

At the same time, participants seem to be re-evaluating Monday's sell-off sparked by Standard & Poor's downgrade of the US economy's outlook, seeing it as an over-reaction, said RBC Capital Markets.

By 09:44 GMT, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index was up 0.3% at 279.83. London's FTSE 100 index was 0.3% higher at 6,040.51, Frankfurt's DAX index was 0.7% higher at 7,299.43, and Paris's CAC-40 index gained 0.4% to 4,021.76.

The focus will be on retail sales data out of the UK at 10:30 SA time. In the US, the Philadelphia Fed index and leading indicator data are due at 16:00 SA time. On the high-profile US earnings agenda, Advanced Micro Devices, General Electric Co, Verizon and Morgan Stanley are all expected to report quarterly results.

Asian stock markets were mostly higher on Thursday, helped by strong earnings from Apple and gains on Wall Street on Wednesday.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.8% and South Korea's Kospi Composite added 1.3%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.7%, while the Shanghai Composite index was 0.7% higher.

On the JSE, Sasol (SOL) lost 28 cents to 374.50 rand, but BHP Billiton (BIL) rose 2.87 rand to 284.60 rand.

Anglo American (AGL) fell 18 cents to 351.82 rand. The resources group on Thursday reported a 19% decline in its iron ore production to 9.9 million tonnes in the first quarter.

Iron ore production in the first quarter of last year stood at 12.3 million tonnes. The group said the lower production was mainly due to mining constraints caused by wet pit conditions, resulting from excessive rainfall at all of Kumba Iron Ore's (KIO) operations.

Kumba, which is 64% held by Anglo, reported a 23% fall in production to 8.8 million tonnes in the first quarter of 2011.

Anglo said copper production decreased by 14% from 160,800 tonnes to 138,800 tonnes during the quarter. It said lower copper production was primarily due to abnormally high rainfall and expected lower grades at Collahuasi in Chile, as well as scheduled maintenance and expected lower grades at Los Bronces, also in Chile.

Kumba fell 1.97 rand to 470.02 rand.

Platinum stock Anglo Platinum (AMS) firmed 2.14 rand to 656.14 rand. The world's largest platinum producer on Thursday reported a 19% improvement in refined platinum production for the first quarter of the year.

Refined platinum production was 533,000 ounces in the quarter ending in March, compared with 447,000 ounces for the same quarter of 2010. Production of refined platinum fell a significant 39% from 872,300 ounces in the December quarter last year.

Equivalent ounces at 568,000 ounces were, however, down 5% on production in the first quarter of last year as “a direct result of the extraordinary safety stoppages”.

Impala Platinum (IMP) advanced 2.31 rand or 1.18% to 197.26 rand.

Among gold counters, Anglogold Ashanti (ANG) slid 3.86 rand or 1.13% to 336.64 rand and Randgold (RNG) plunged 29 cents or 10% to 3.87 rand.

In the industrial sector, Bidvest (BVT) eased 1.74 rand or 1.16% to 148.00 rand.

Paper and pulp group Mondi (MND) jumped 1.14 rand or 1.82% to 63.74 rand.

Telecommunications group Telkom (TKG) shed 44 cents or 1.16% to 37.50 rand.

Technology group Datatec (DTC) rallied 2.21 rand or 6.47% to 36.35 rand and Allied Technologies (ALT) garnered 1.87 rand or 3.25% to 59.47 rand.

Banking group Standard Bank (SBK) lost 1.20 rand or 1.20% to 99.00 rand.

Retailer Shoprite (SHP) was off 1.59 rand or 1.57% to 99.41 rand, but Truworths (TRU) rose 1.24 rand or 1.70% to 74.20 rand.

Construction firm Aveng (AEG) collected 65 cents or 1.85% to 35.75 rand. - I-Net Bridge

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/jse-little-changed-ahead-of-easter-1.1060162

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