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Johannesburg - Gold miners and resources led the decline in
the JSE's morning trade on Thursday. The local bourse opened weaker in line
with Asian markets, which fell after cautious remarks on the US economy by US
Federal Reserve chairperson Ben Bernanke.
At 09:11 local time, the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index was
off 0.76%, at 34,034.89 points. Gold miners were 2.54% weaker, resources gave
up 1.58%, while platinum miners shed 1.04%.
Banks fell 0.34%, industrials were 0.33% lower, and
financials gave up 0.32%.
The rand was at R7.50 to the US dollar, from R7.43 at the
JSE's close on Wednesday. Gold was quoted at $ 716.23 a troy ounce from $1
776.25/oz at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was at $1 686/oz, from $1
727/oz.
A local trader said that the rand remained "pretty
strong" though not lending support to mining stocks. Mining and resources
stocks were "quite under pressure - more so than other sectors", the
trader noted.
Asian stock markets opened mixed on Thursday as renewed
confidence in China's manufacturing activity was offset by Bernanke's cautious remarks on the US economy, Dow Jones Newswires
reports.
Regional investors took some encouragement from China's
official manufacturing purchasing managers' index for February, which rose to
51.0 from 50.5 in January and met analysts' expectations.
Investors though were unwilling to place aggressive bets
after Bernanke warned on Wednesday that the US recovery was "uneven and
modest", which sent US stocks lower. The Fed chief also avoided any
suggestions of another round of quantitative easing to boost the economy.
At 08:01 local time the Nikkei was down 0.16%, while at 08:56 local time the HSI had fallen 1.13% to 21 434.77. The Sensex earlier dropped 0.9%, while the Shanghai Composite added 0.2%, and the NZX-50 gained 0.3%. Markets in Seoul were closed for a holiday.
