Publications
Partners
Johannesburg - The JSE swung from small gains to tiny losses
in early trade on Wednesday as resources stocks lost some ground due to
profit-taking after a strong performance yesterday.
Banks and financials also declined in the morning session,
which saw the market remain little changed.
By 09:19 local time, the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index fell
a slight 0.13%, with gold miners dropping 0.27%, resources easing 0.35% and
platinum miners shedding 0.13%. Banks lost 0.33% and financials were down
0.24%, but industrial were modestly up 0.11%.
The rand was bid at R6.76 to the dollar, unchanged from the
JSE's close on Tuesday. Gold was quoted at $1 523.49 a troy ounce from $1
516.71/oz at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was at $1 804/oz, from $1
795.50/oz previously.
"There is nothing terribly exciting. Resources eased
after rallying yesterday," a trader said, noting that global equities were
not shooting the lights out.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that Asian stock markets were
mostly up on Wednesday, but many bourses were off their morning highs after
inflation data in China suggested further tightening measures from Beijing are
likely.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gained 0.5% to 9,856.6,
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.8% and South Korea's Kospi Composite was
0.7% higher.
The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.1%, while Hong Kong's
Hang Seng Index rose 0.2%, Taiwan's main index gained 0.1% and India's Sensex
fell 0.2%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 24 points in screen
trade.
A sense of caution crept into markets after China released a
slew of data that suggested policymakers are likely to impose further
tightening measures to curb inflation and credit growth.
The country's consumer price index rose 5.3% in April from a year earlier, slowing from the 5.4% rate in March but topped the median forecast of a 5.2% rise in a Dow Jones poll of 14 economists.
