Media Coverage

JSE losses capped

The JSE ended 248 points weaker on Monday amid pressured sentiment with the strong dollar weighing on commodities stocks. However, a weaker local currency prevented the bourse from deeper falls, a trader said.

At 17:00 the JSE all share index had weakened 0.94 percent, with resources flat, down 0.09 percent and platinum producers down 2.77 percent. However, gold miners added 2.27 percent.

Banks declined 2.13 percent, financials were 1.86 percent lower and industrials gave up 1.37 percent.

The rand was bid at 7.85 to the dollar from 7.78 when the JSE closed on Friday. Gold was quoted at $1060.05 a troy ounce from $1039.55 at the JSE's last close, and platinum was at $1336 an ounce, from $1320 at its previous close.

"We ended down on the markets today after some very good runs," the trader said.

"The weaker rand prevented us from falling further, it could have been worse.

"The US opened positively, so we might see a rebound in the US. They have lost 400 points in five days; we could see some rebound there.

"Sentiment is a bit under pressure. The dollar strength has put some pressure on commodities. There is profit taking mainly from overseas investors," he said.

Dow Jones Newswire reported that US stocks opened higher on Monday as better-than-expected earnings and a forecast boost from Ford helped encouraged some buying following Friday's weakness, although it recovered only a tiny portion of Friday's tumble.

The DJIA was recently up 23 points, or 0.2 percent, to 9735. Financial components Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase led the gains, with Bank of America up 1.7 percent recently and JPMorgan up 1.1 percent. Alcoa and General Electric also rose 1 percent, though the Dow's gains were held in check by a 1.7 percent slide in Intel.

Monday's gains come as the market tries to recover from a particularly volatile week that saw the Dow surge nearly 200 points on Thursday thanks to better-than-expected US economic expansion in the third quarter, only to be completely wiped out by a 249-point plunge on Friday that showed the fragility of the market and how quick it is to start doubting any good news. Investors are scrambling to figure out whether the Dow's 48 percent climb from early March can be justified.

"They're going to be looking at every possible nuance to see where we stand with respect to recovery," said Bruce McCain, chief investment strategist with Key Private Bank. "We're watching consumer spending but effectively the most important issue is we need a spending catalyst that drives inventory rebuilding and some expansion of work hours to get this recovery off the ground."

When the JSE closed, the DJIA was up 0.76 percent.

Among equity movers on the JSE, Anglo American plc was up one rand to 293 rand and BHP Billiton edged up 20 cents to 216.11 rand.

Petrochemicals group Sasol lost 2.30 rand to 293.50 rand.

Kumba Iron Ore declined 7.25 rand, or 3.07 percent, to 228.75 rand, Highveld Steel weaken by two rand, or 3.08 percent, to 63 rand and ArcelorMittal gave up 1.70 rand, or 1.60 percent, to 104.80 rand.

AngloGold Ashanti rose 10.20 rand, or 3.52 percent, to 300.10 rand, Gold Fields collected 1.29 rand, or 1.28 percent, to 101.79 rand and Harmony (HAR) edged up 35 cents to 78.85 rand.

AngloGold Ashanti earlier reported a headline loss to 1,319 cents a share in the three months to end September 2009 from a headline profit of 379 cents a share in the three months making up the June quarter.

Adjusted headline earnings, excluding the cost of these hedge buybacks, reflected a loss of 4.76 billion rand for the quarter, against a profit of 1.36 billion in the June quarter.

Including the cost of the hedge buyback, which was reflected in a lower received gold price, the company reported an adjusted headline loss of 8.07 billion rand against a profit of 1.63 billion in the previous quarter.

Platinum miner Anglo Platinum fell 32.39 rand, or 4.74 percent, to 651.65 rand and Impala Platinum was down 3.30 rand, or 1.89 percent, to 171 rand, but Lonmin was up 3.75 rand, or 1.95 percent, to 196.25 rand.

Diversified miner African Rainbow declined 4.47 rand, or 2.92 percent, to 148.43 rand and Exxaro fell 2.90 rand, or 3.28 percent, to 85.60 rand.

Elsewhere on the JSE, brewer SABMiller inched up 18 cents to 209.43 rand and Barloworld added 1.75 rand, or 3.57 percent, to 50.75 rand.

However, Bidvest was down 4.48 rand, or 3.64 percent, to 118.51 rand and Imperial declined 2.81 rand, or 3.45 percent, to 78.59 rand.

Banker Standard Bank weakened 1.70 rand, or 1.73 percent, to 96.50 rand, Nedbank lost 2.40 rand, or 2.03 percent, to 116 rand, Absa fell 2.01 rand, or 1.61 percent, to 122.50 rand and FirstRand was off 54 cents, or 3.04 percent, to 17.25 rand.

Financial services group Old Mutual was 15 cents, or 1.09 percent, weaker at 13.60 rand and Sanlam softened 69 cents, or 3.20 percent, to 20.86 rand.

Sugar group Tongaat Hulett gave up 4.49 rand, or 4.47 percent, to 96.01 rand.

Media group Naspers declined 3.34 rand, or 1.17 percent, to 281.10 rand.

Retailer Woolies weakened 65 cents, or 3.72 percent, to 16.84 rand, Foschini declined 1.93 rand, or 3.10 percent, to 60.25 rand and Mr Price was down 1.45 rand, or 4.04 percent, to 34.45 rand.

Liberty International shed 2.99 rand, or 5.07 percent, to 56.01 rand.

Construction group Aveng gave up 1.74 rand, or 4.17 percent, to 40.01 rand, Murray & Roberts was off 1.28 rand, or 2.27 percent, to 55.10 rand and WBHO declined two rand, or 1.75 percent, to 112 rand.

Among telecommunications groups MTN Group lost 2.89 rand, or 2.46 percent, to 114.61 rand, Telkom was down 1.19 rand, or 2.70 percent, to 42.81 rand and Vodacom gave up 1.53 rand, or 2.81 percent, to 52.87 rand.

Palesa Motloung - 04 Nov 2009