Johannesburg - The JSE slipped into negative
territory at noon on Friday, giving up earlier gains as the retreat in
general mining shares weighed on the all-share index.
At 12:02 local time, the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index was down 0.33% to
32 938.71 points, with the gold index losing 1.79%, platinum shares
giving up 1.39% and resource counters retreating 0.93%.
Financials slipped 0.10%, as banking stocks (-0.05%) and industrials (-0.01%) were both flat.
The rand was trading at 8.33 to the US dollar, from 8.34 at the
JSE's close on Thursday, while gold was quoted at $1 560.15 a troy
ounce from US$1 570.98/oz at the JSE's previous close and platinum was
at $1 427.50/oz, from $1 429.50/oz at the previous session.
"The markets have largely priced in the probability of Greece
leaving the eurozone. The key question, though, is how the European
policy makers will contain the domino effects on the banks in the
region. If you are fully invested under these conditions, equities are
not a great space to be in," said Drikus Combrinck, portfolio manager at
PSG Konsult.
European markets were mixed at about noon local time with UK's
FTSE 100 down 0.17% to 5 340.79 points and Germany's DAX up 0.61% to
564.74 points
Most Asian markets ended mixed, with Australia touching a
six-month-low, as comments by the Italian Prime Minister failed to sooth
investor concerns with Europe.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said he believed Greece would remain in the eurozone, although it wasn't a certainty.
