Johannesburg – The JSE was flat at noon‚ with a rally in the platinum sector offset by a continued heavy sell-off in retail shares and banks.
At 12:35‚ the All Share [JSE:J203] index was flat (0.04%) at 40 160.52 points‚ with the Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] index edging up 0.18% to 35 736.65‚ while the platinum index lifted 1.72% but banks lost 1.08%.
“The retail sector has been extended and expensive for some time. The sharp sell-off in the retail sector could be the function of sectoral rotatation where money is finding its way into the resources sector‚” said Mohammed Nalla‚ head of strategic research at Nedbank Capital.
The platinum spot price surged to a three-month intraday high on Tuesday‚ pushing the JSE platinum stock index to a nine-month high‚ amid potential supply constraints after Anglo American Platinum said it was putting four shafts at its Rustenburg complex onto care and maintenance.
Elsewhere‚ leading European shares were fairly mixed at noon‚ with London’s FTSE 100 slipping flat (0.05%.).
Among individual shares on the JSE‚ Anglo American (AGL) was up 1.05% to R289‚ Impala Platinum garnered 1.41% to R172.09‚ Lomnin jumped 5.38% and Aquarius Platinum (AQP) lifted 6.01% to R9.70.
Bidvest (BVT)‚ however‚ shed 1.28% to R213.28.
Among retail stocks‚ The Foschini Group (TFG) shed 4.96% to R124.72‚ Shoprite (SHP) was down 2.13% to R45.02‚ Pick n Pay lost 2.13% to R45.02 and Mr Price (MPC) lost R126.50