Johannesburg - The JSE closed flat on
Tuesday (0.05%)‚ with resources leading the advances and gold
miners taking the hits.
“It was a pretty flat day today‚
but market sentiment was positive. Good US job numbers helped reduce
the need for a third round of quantitative easing a bit‚” said
Gerhard Lampen‚ head of Sanlam iTRADE.
“Quantitative easing is not going to
do too much for the economy ... the aim is to keep asset prices high.
When the US Federal Reserve is talking about monetary easing‚ share
prices rise‚ so talking about it is doing the job‚ without them
actually implementing any stimulus. If the Dow Jones Index stays
above 13 000 points the Fed will not be worried enough to do anything
- they will only act if equity markets fall‚” he added.
Traders worldwide are also awaiting
more detail from the European Central Bank (ECB) on its latest plan
to address the region’s debt crisis amid improved global risk
sentiment‚ which has pushed global markets higher.
At 17:00 local time the JSE closed up
0.05% at 35 487.26 points‚ with the resources index adding 1.13%
and the gold index shedding 1.45%.
Among the big movers‚ Anglo American
Limited [JSE:AGL] gained R7.33‚ or 2.98%‚ to R253.33 and BHP
Billiton [JSE:BIL] added R3.24‚ or 1.31%‚ to R250.04. Lonmin
[JSE:LON] lifted R3.89‚ or 4.15%‚ to R97.63 and Aquarius
[JSE:AQP] added 21 cents‚ or 4.59%‚ to R4.79.
Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited
[JSE:HAR] shed R1.71‚ or 2.09%‚ to R80.03 and Gold Fields Limited
[JSE:GFI] gave up R2.01‚ or 1.82%‚ to R108.49.
Coal of Africa Limited [JSE:CZA] was up
16 cents or 4.58%‚ to R3.65 after the company announced it had
raised $44m through an equity placement to fund the ramp-up of its
Vele Colliery in Limpopo.
Palabora Mining Company Limited
[JSE:PAM] closed R9.30‚ or 9.66%‚ lower at R87.00. The company
reported a 55.9% drop in headline earnings per share for the six
months ended June 2012 to 697 cents.