“The JSE did not have a busy day due to a lot of traders being away on a long weekend. We opened lower as Asia finished down a tad. We saw the euro a bit softer from the previous two week’s rally. Locally Anglo American recovered nicely after some fair sales earlier in the day. The all-share started down‚ but we were marginally up at the close after having seen some profit taking after a good couple of days‚” said Michael du Plooy‚ stockbroker at PSG Konsult‚ Pretoria.
“The negative Chinese trade data report put a bit of pressure on our market‚ with Chinese imports and exports down. This will have a negative influence on our exports. But we have not seen a big sell-off in our resources‚ so the data did not affect the market much today‚” he added
World market’s were broadly lower after the worse-than-anticipated China trade data for July triggered some profit taking in so called growth or risky assets.
At 5pm local time the JSE Limited [JSE:JSE] all-share index had gained 0.23% to 35 574.51 points‚ with financial the worst performing sector‚ down 0.14%‚ while gold stocks gained 2.17%.
Among local movers‚ Anglo American Limited [JSE:AGL] added R1.96 to R259.50‚ while Sasol Limited [JSE:SOL] gave up R5.92‚ or 1.69%‚ to R344.88‚ after the petrochemical giant late on Wednesday issued a trading update that fell below analysts’ estimates. BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL] gained R1.37 to R253.06.
Among gold miners‚ AngloGold Ashanti Limited [JSE:ANG] added R5.00‚ or 1.81%‚ to R281.00‚ Gold Fields Limited [JSE:GFI] gained R3.32‚ or 3.04%‚ to R112.62 and Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited [JSE:HAR] was up R1.21‚ or 1.49%‚ to R82.65.
Aquarius Platinum Limited [JSE:AQP] was up 22 cents‚ or 4.73%‚ to R4.87.
In industrials‚ SABMiller [JSE:SAB] was down R4.06‚ or 1.12%‚ to R357.87‚ while Richemont [JSE:CFR] added 63 cents‚ or 1.26%‚ to R50.58.