Johannesburg - The JSE Limited
[JSE:JSE] closed flat (0.02%) on Wednesday on the back of the Dow
Jones index opening weaker‚ with resources still leading the gains
locally.
“We have been trading very strong and
positive‚ but once the US market opened we came down. We have had a
bit of a reality check today after our local market has been
outperforming for a while‚” said Viv Govender‚ market watcher
at Vunani Private Clients.
“We have been trading in a
substantial range of more than 300 points today and peaked at about
12pm and then started coming down. We have seen volatility during the
day and it was quite surprising that the market was not quieter
before the holiday tomorrow‚” he added.
At 5.01pm local time the JSE all-share
index was 0.02% higher at 35 494.64 points and the resources index
was 0.34% higher at 47 749.20 points.
At 4.29pm local time the Dow Jones
Industrial index was down slightly by 0.09% and the FTSE 100 index in
London was 0.42% softer.
US stocks began the session modestly
lower on Wednesday as investors took their cue from a pullback in
European markets.
US stocks also opened softer as Spain's
government borrowing costs pushed back up towards dangerous levels‚
Dow Jones Newswires reported. A pickup in Spanish government
borrowing rates helped pull stocks lower. On Wednesday‚ the yield
on the 10-year government bond ticked briefly above the 7% level that
many investors considered unsustainable‚ trading recently at
6.971%‚ according to Tradeweb.
Meanwhile‚ the British Bank of
England Governor Mervyn King said the bank would “do all it can”
to pull the economy out of recession‚ signalling further bond
purchases using freshly created money‚ but ruling out a near-term
cut in the key interest rate.
Elsewhere‚ German industrial output‚
which fell in June‚ suggested that weaker eurozone states could no
longer rely on the currency bloc’s largest economy to support the
17-nation currency zone. Industrial output in Germany fell slightly
more than expected in June‚ data from the country’s Economics
Ministry showed on Wednesday‚ suggesting the country’s key
manufacturing sector put on the brakes at the end of the second
quarter. Industrial output fell 0.9% in June in monthly adjusted
terms‚ which was a greater fall than the 0.8% decline forecasted by
economists.
Among local top movers‚ Anglo
American Limited [JSE:AGL] gained R4.21‚ or 1.66%‚ to R257.54 and
BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL] added 0.66% to R251.69.
Sasol Limited [JSE:SOL] took a dip‚
shedding R6.02‚ or 1.69%‚ to R350.80‚ after the oil giant said
in a trading update on Wednesday that full-year headline earnings per
share were expected to be 20% to 30% higher.
Exxaro Resources Limited [JSE:EXX] was
up R3.87‚ or 2.22%‚ to R178.54 and African Rainbow Minerals
Limited [JSE:ARM] gained R3.64‚ or 2.33%‚ to R159.54.
Amongst platinum counters Anglo
American Plats Limited [JSE:AMS] was down R4.29‚ or 1.00%‚ to
R432.00‚ Lonmin [JSE:LON] shed R1.02‚ or 1.04%‚ to R96.61 and
Aquarius Platinum Limited [JSE:AQP] dropped 14 cents‚ or 2.92%‚
to R4.65.
