Johannesburg - The JSE share market was flat in midday trade
on Thursday as traders eye international news for direction.
“Markets are currently trading slightly lower in a very
tight range ahead of a press conference from the US Fed this evening. The
current expectation is for the Fed to announce QE3‚ though this is by no means
a unanimous view. Even if QE3 is announced the scope and duration is uncertain‚
as the saying goes ’the devil is in the details’‚” Vunani Capital analyst Viv
Govender said.
At 13:04‚ the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index was flat
(0.03%) at 35‚747.53 points‚ with gold miners losing 0.76%‚ platinum miners
giving up 1.13% and banks down 1.54%.
“Markets will also be paying attention to jobless claims
figure out of the US at 2:30pm. This is a case where a bad number‚ a larger
number of people claiming unemployment benefits‚ is likely to be viewed
positively and vice versa. Bad employment figures will give the Fed cover for
more actions‚” he said.
“In local news the mining strikes currently show no signs of
diminishing as Amplats concedes that some of its workers are on strike after
first claiming that the strikers were not employed by them. Julius Malema has
also called for a national strike at all mines. Stock prices have not reacted
much to this as the resource sector is down just 0.24%‚” Govender said.
Among individual shares on the JSE‚ Anglo Platinum [JSE:AMS]
was down 1.41% to R411.62‚ Impala Platinum Holdings [JSE:IMP] shed 1.36% to
R138.55‚ Northam Platinum [JSE:NHM] lost 2.11% to R30.64‚ while Lonmin
[JSE:LON] added 1.08% to R77.97 and Aquarius Platinum [JSE:AQP] gained 1.30% to R5.47.
Gold miner‚ Gold Fields [JSE:GFI] shed 1.51% to R101.15 and
Harmony Gold Mining Company [JSE:HAR] lost 1.28% to R67.77.
Kumba Iron Ore [JSE:KIO] lost 1.08% to R486.70‚ while Assore
[JSE:ASR] gained to R313.97.
*Follow Fin24 on Twitter, Facebook,
Google+ and Pinterest.