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Industrials‚ commodities fare worst

Johannesburg — The JSE pared intraday gains to close the Thursday session firmly in the red as losses in the gold mining and platinum spaces weighed and a slew of negative global economic data prints and announcements added to the pressure on the local bourse.

At 17:00‚ the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index closed 0.89% lower at 39 064.88 points‚ with the blue-chip Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] index giving back a similar margin‚ down 0.92%.

The platinum and gold gauges lost 1.83% and 1.77% respectively as lower commodity prices weighed on miners. Industrials were down 1.14%.

“We had a raft of negative data out today with PMI’s out of Europe all in contraction except for Germany. The BoE and ECB both kept their policy rates on hold and jobless claims in the US were higher than expected‚” said Mohammed Nalla‚ head of strategic research at Nedbank Capital.

Major European bourses were lower with London’s FTSE 100 slumping 1.13% by 16:50 local time. At the same time in the US the Dow was 0.25% firmer.

Earlier on Thursday European Central Bank president Mario Draghi kept monetary policy unchanged‚ as did the Bank of England (BoE)‚ as expected‚ deciding against pumping fresh cash into Britain’s stagnating economy.

The BoE left its asset-purchase target unchanged at £375bn ($565bn) and kept its benchmark interest rate at a record-low 0.5%.

The eurozone’s economic woes were highlighted by the publication of the eurozone March services PMI data‚ which indicated continued declines.

On the other side of the Atlantic‚ US stocks rebounded on the announcement of aggressive new stimulus measures from Japan's central bank‚ as investors shrugged off a weaker-than-expected report from the US labour market‚ Dow Jones Newswires reported.

Initial jobless claims‚ a measure of layoffs‚ increased by 28‚000 last week‚ more than expected. Jobless claims rose for the third week in a row‚ tempering expectations before Friday's key data release on nonfarm payrolls and the unemployment rate.

The unofficial kickoff of the earnings reporting season is after Monday's closing bell‚ when Alcoa becomes the first Dow component to release results.

Among local stock movers‚ Sasol (SOL) gave back 2.63% to R390.56.

Gold One International (GDO) and Harmony (HAR) led the declines in the bullion space‚ as the former slumped 4.68% to R2.24 and the latter lost 2.47% to R53.64.

Platinum counter Northam Platinum (NHM) trimmed 3.88% off its value closing at R37.40‚ Aquarius (AQP) slumped 6.32% to R6.08‚ while Royal Bafokeng (RBP) bucked the trend adding 1.25% to R55.20.

Of the banks‚ Absa (ASA) fared worst‚ down 2.85% to R150.10‚ followed by African Bank (ABL) off 2.27% to R28.85.

Retailer The Foschini Group (TFG) dropped 3.32% to R110.70‚ Woolies (WHL) lost 2.20% to R68.75 and Shoprite (SHP) gave up 2.86% to R176.50.

In construction Group Five (GRF) was off 1.73% at R35.18.

Among listed property counters Redefine (RDF) lost 3.12% to R9.94.

Richemont (CFR) dropped 3.80% to R71.09‚ while AVI (AVI) bucked the trend adding 2.76% to R53.95‚ as did pharmaceutical group Aspen (APN)‚ which jumped 3.77% to R188.19.


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Rand - Dollar
18.94
-0.0%
Rand - Pound
23.91
-0.0%
Rand - Euro
20.41
+0.1%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.33
+0.1%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.0%
Platinum
908.05
+1.2%
Palladium
1,014.94
+1.3%
Gold
2,232.75
-0.0%
Silver
24.95
-0.1%
Brent Crude
87.00
+1.8%
Top 40
68,346
0.0%
All Share
74,536
0.0%
Resource 10
57,251
0.0%
Industrial 25
103,936
0.0%
Financial 15
16,502
0.0%
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