JSE edges up in tentative trade

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.