JSE flat in tentative trade

Johannesburg - The JSE fell early in its opening session on Friday before recovering slightly in volatile trade as market players looked to the US jobs report later in the session for direction.

At 09:26 local time the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index edged down 0.6% to 33?122.36 points with resources flat (-0.02%) while gold counters shed 0.87% and platinums counters lost 1.31%.

Financials were flat (0.04%) banking stocks garnered 0.35% while industrials were 0.14% softer.

The rand was trading at R8.50 to the US dollar from R8.55 at the JSE's close on Thursday while gold was quoted at $1  557.56 a troy ounce from $1 566.51/oz at the JSE's previous close and platinum was at $1 400.70/oz from $1 403.20/oz at the previous session.

"For as long as there is no consensus among the European policy makers on how to deal decisively with the eurozone debt problems markets are not going to stabilise. Spanish bond yields remained at elevated levels which could potentially force the country to seek a bailout" said Chris Gilmour analyst at Absa Investments.

The all-share index shed 3.65% last month with general resources the worst performing sector: Gold shares lost 15.14% platinums 12.14% and resources 7.25%.

European stock markets opened mixed on Friday reflecting the gyrating sentiment amid the eurozone chaos and ahead of US labour data that could inject even more dismay Dow Jones Newswires reported.

UK's FTSE had lifted 0.34% by 09:09 local time.

Asian stock markets slid extending last month's large declines as China's manufacturing sector slowed sharply in May.

The official China purchasing managers index fell to 50.4 down from 53.3 in April. A score above 50 suggests an increase in activity. The score in May was significantly lower than a forecast 51.5 compounding fears that the Chinese economy is slowing at a faster rate than expected.

Japan's Nikkei was down 1.2% but Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.23%.