Johannesburg - The JSE struggled to find a clear path during
its opening session on Friday‚ with the release of the US jobs report later in
the session the main focus of investor attention.
At 09:23 local time‚ the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index was
up 0.27% at 34‚313.88 points‚ with resources flat (0.08%)‚ gold shares nudged
up 0.16% and platinum counters were also flat (-0.08%).
Financials lifted 0.29%‚ banking stocks gained 0.31% and
industrials firmed 0.38%.
The rand was trading at R8.17 to the US dollar‚ unchanged
from the JSE’s close on Thursday‚ while gold changed hands at $1 601.73 a troy
ounce from $1 607.60/oz at the JSE’s previous close and platinum was quoted at
$1 471.00/oz‚ from $1 472.50/oz previously.
“We are not expecting drastic moves on the markets until
after the release of the US nonfarm payrolls data‚” said Martin Strauss‚ equity
dealer PSG Konsult.
European stocks started lower after action from a trio of
global central banks on Thursday failed to support risk appetite‚ instead raising
concern that the health of the global economy may be worse than thought‚ Dow
Jones Newswires reported.
London’s FTSE 100 index was down 0.31%.
On Thursday‚ the Bank of England increased its asset
purchase programme by £50bn to £375bn. Almost immediately afterwards‚ the
People’s Bank of China cuts its benchmark one-year lending rate by 31 basis
points to 6.0% and one-year deposit rate by 25 basis points to 3.0%.
The European Central Bank lowered its lending rate by 25
basis points to 0.75% as expected‚ but also cut its deposit rate by 25 basis
points to zero‚ which was more of a surprise.
In Asia‚ Japan’s Nikkei average ended the session 0.65% in
the red‚ while the Hang Seng index was down 0.29% by 09:23 SA time.