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Johannesburg - The JSE managed to pare losses in late trade on Monday‚ eventually finishing in positive territory‚ with industrials leading the upside‚ while platinums and gold miners weighed.
"We saw some general market weakness during the day‚ but the JSE managed to close in the black with industrials gaining the most. Platinums and gold miners have been under pressure for quite a while now due to foreign investor discomfort because of strike activity. All the latest mining news is still making headlines‚ contributing to a continued selloff in that space‚" said Daniel Isaacs‚ analyst at 36ONE Asset Management in Johannesburg.
"The fact that the New York stock exchange is closed due to Hurricane Sandy has had no major influence on our local market‚ but it did lead to low volumes traded‚ with only about R8bn in turnover today; on an average volumes are usually about R13bn‚" he said.
At 17:00‚ the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index closed up 0.33% at 36 993.06 points‚ with the Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] index adding 0.48% to 32 877.38. Platinums shed 0.74% and gold miners slipped 0.50%‚ while industrials gained 0.51%.
Meanwhile US stock futures slumped early on Monday‚ with investors expressing concern about Hurricane Sandy‚ prompting the closure of all US equity and derivatives trading during regular hours.
Trading in stock futures continued as usual‚ ending at 9.15 am EDT‚ and following European markets lower‚ Dow Jones Newswires reported. Traders said the impact of the storm added to investors’ worries and it was still not clear when US markets would open again.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures ended down 61 points‚ or 0.50%‚ to 12 993.
Traders said that the focus for the remainder of this week would be global manufacturing data and a key series of US jobs data‚ culminating on Friday with October nonfarm payrolls.
Trading in the US has rarely stopped for weather. A blizzard led to a late start and an early close on 8 January 1996‚ according to the New York exchange's parent company‚ NYSE Euronext. The NYSE shut down on 27 September 1985 for Hurricane Gloria.
A number of US companies disclosed plans to postpone their quarterly reports because of the pending arrival of Hurricane Sandy on the US East Coast‚ a move that comes during one of the busiest weeks of the third-quarter earnings season. Among those delaying reports are pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and financial data and news provider Thomson Reuters Corporation.
Major European stock markets were mostly trading softer with London’s FTSE 100 down 0.09% at 5pm local time and France’s CAC-40 0.73% weaker.
Meanwhile locally market participants are awaiting local trade and manufacturing data out later this week‚ while internationally‚ all eyes will be on Tuesday’s Spanish GDP and Friday’s US employment report.
Among local individual shares that showed movement were Anglo American Platinum shedding 1.50% to R401.37. The Rustenburg strike coordinating committee announced on Monday afternoon that the strike at Amplats in Rustenburg would continue. This despite the company reaching an agreement with unions and workers’ representatives to reinstate the 12 000 employees that had been dismissed.
Northam Platinum fell 1.08% to R32.15 and Lonmin lost 1.13% to R67.20.
Among gold counters Harmony Gold Mining gave up 2.70% to R69.28 and Gold Fields dipped 0.62% to R103.00.
In the banking sector Abil shed 3.08% to R28.35 and Standard Bank dropped 1.02% to R105.49.
Among building stocks Group Five lost 3.92% to R24.50 and Murray & Roberts gave up 1.56% to R21.40.
