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Johannesburg - Gold shares, which gained more than 4% on Thursday, climbed a further nearly 2% on the JSE on Friday morning, but the rest of the market was flat as investors await new economic indicators to give it direction.
The run in gold share prices is mainly due to the stronger gold price, which rose sharply overnight to trade near a four-month high.
The gold price, which gained nearly 2% for the week, was poised to log its fifth straight week of gains as a weaker dollar and political tensions in Ukraine lifted its safe-haven status. The metal has gained nearly 9% in the last five weeks.
At midday the All-share on the index was only 28,25 points or 0.06% higher at 47 848, close to record levels. The Top 40-index gained 19,83 points or 0.05% to 43 256.
The load shedding announced on Thursday morning had little influence on the market, despite the disruption it can cause in the mining and manufacturing sectors. The market’s reaction to the energy crisis depends on how long outages will continue.
Global market attention is on US unemployment and nonfarm payrolls data due at 15:30 for further direction. Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) said in a morning note that the consensus expectation was that the US created slightly less than 150 000 jobs in February‚ after an increase of only 113 000 in January 2014 and 75 000 in December 2013.
Poor weather should‚ once again‚ have distorted the number.
Some analysts suggest a figure of fewer than 100 000 new jobs might force the Federal Reserve to stop the tapering of its economic stimulus programme, but RMB said this is questionable.
A poor jobs report can also support the gold price, if the dollar comes under pressure.
The biggest factor supporting gold, however, is still Ukraine, over which Russia and the West are facing their most serious confrontation since the end of the Cold War.
"If the situation in Ukraine deteriorates, prices will go higher. However, if the crisis is resolved, gold could fall back to $1 320," said Yuichi Ikemizu, branch manager for Standard Bank in Tokyo.
Spot gold was trading slightly lower at $1 347.88 an ounce by midday, after rising 1% on Thursday.
Among the gold shares Harmony [JSE:HAR] led the gains, adding 1.03% to R35.25‚ followed by Gold Fields [JSE:GFI] up 0.45% to R40.28.
Profit taking is still taking place in the resources sector and the resources index was 0.36% lower by midday. Anglo American [JSE:AGL] was down 1.59% at R274.32, and rival BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL] lost 0.67% at R335.30.
In the banking space‚ Standard Bank Group [JSE:SBK] was up 1.80% at R129.27 after reporting strong results on Thursday.
- Fin24
The run in gold share prices is mainly due to the stronger gold price, which rose sharply overnight to trade near a four-month high.
The gold price, which gained nearly 2% for the week, was poised to log its fifth straight week of gains as a weaker dollar and political tensions in Ukraine lifted its safe-haven status. The metal has gained nearly 9% in the last five weeks.
At midday the All-share on the index was only 28,25 points or 0.06% higher at 47 848, close to record levels. The Top 40-index gained 19,83 points or 0.05% to 43 256.
The load shedding announced on Thursday morning had little influence on the market, despite the disruption it can cause in the mining and manufacturing sectors. The market’s reaction to the energy crisis depends on how long outages will continue.
Global market attention is on US unemployment and nonfarm payrolls data due at 15:30 for further direction. Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) said in a morning note that the consensus expectation was that the US created slightly less than 150 000 jobs in February‚ after an increase of only 113 000 in January 2014 and 75 000 in December 2013.
Poor weather should‚ once again‚ have distorted the number.
Some analysts suggest a figure of fewer than 100 000 new jobs might force the Federal Reserve to stop the tapering of its economic stimulus programme, but RMB said this is questionable.
A poor jobs report can also support the gold price, if the dollar comes under pressure.
The biggest factor supporting gold, however, is still Ukraine, over which Russia and the West are facing their most serious confrontation since the end of the Cold War.
"If the situation in Ukraine deteriorates, prices will go higher. However, if the crisis is resolved, gold could fall back to $1 320," said Yuichi Ikemizu, branch manager for Standard Bank in Tokyo.
Spot gold was trading slightly lower at $1 347.88 an ounce by midday, after rising 1% on Thursday.
Among the gold shares Harmony [JSE:HAR] led the gains, adding 1.03% to R35.25‚ followed by Gold Fields [JSE:GFI] up 0.45% to R40.28.
Profit taking is still taking place in the resources sector and the resources index was 0.36% lower by midday. Anglo American [JSE:AGL] was down 1.59% at R274.32, and rival BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL] lost 0.67% at R335.30.
In the banking space‚ Standard Bank Group [JSE:SBK] was up 1.80% at R129.27 after reporting strong results on Thursday.
- Fin24
