JSE remains strong in quiet trade
Mar 01 2011 13:19
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Johannesburg - The JSE stayed slightly firmer in quiet trade at noon on Tuesday, with local market players looking for direction. Resource counters remained positive, but financial and banks gave up earlier gains.
By 12:05 local time, the JSE all-share index was up 0.24%, with resources up 0.22% and platinum miners rising 0.62%. But gold counters fell 0.24%. Banks also lost 0.48% and financials shed 0.17%, while industrials gained 0.44%.
The rand was bid at 6.95 to the dollar, unchanged from the JSE's close on Monday. Gold was quoted at US$1 414.10 a troy ounce from US$1 409.15/oz at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was at $1 810.50/oz from $1 803/oz before.
"The local market is struggling to find direction. It's boring. Trade is quiet and volumes are light," an equity dealer said.
The equity dealer said the US futures were stronger, pointing to a positive start on Wall Street.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that European stocks opened higher on Tuesday with some appetite for risk once again returning to the market at the start of the month, but investors, still concerned about violence in north Africa and the Middle East, continued to keep an eye on oil prices for signs of any increases.
Still, volumes remain healthy despite the event risk posed by the meeting of the European Central Bank on Thursday and Friday's key employment report out of the US.
At 08:45 GMT, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index was 0.8% higher at 288.82. London's FTSE 100 index was up 0.7% at 6 037.69, Frankfurt's DAX index was 0.7% higher at 7 322.71, and Paris's CAC-40 index rose 0.5% to 4 130.81.
In Asia overnight, stock markets were largely higher, helped by the comparative stability in oil prices, with shares in China rising as concerns about further tightening measures from Beijing eased after two separate surveys showed the country's manufacturing growth slowed in February.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average closed up 1.2%, China's Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.5%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.1%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 ended down 0.1% after the country's central bank left interest rates steady. South Korean markets were shut for a public holiday.
