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Johannesburg - Trading on the JSE continued on Wednesday morning in a wait-and-see attitude with investors reluctant to take positions before Thursday's public holiday, when the local market will again be closed.
The market was also waiting for important local economic data, including the latest trade data which is expected to have a strong influence on the rand.
By midday the All-share index was only 0.12% higher on 48 876 and the Top 40 index was only 0.13% higher, with the indices trading in a fairly narrow range all day. On Tuesday evening the All-share index closed just in the black after being down for most of the day.
The industrial index was 0.36% down by midday, but the resources index which was somewhat under pressure on Tuesday was unchanged by midday.
The news that growth in credit demand from South Africa's private sector quickened to 8.84% in March, from 8.67% in February, did not seem to have much of an effect on the market.
Expansion in the broadly defined M3 measure of money supply accelerated to 7.86%, from 5.93% the previous month.
The market was however awaiting trade data due later in the day with greater interest. The rand held steady against the dollar early on Wednesday but looked vulnerable.
The currency achieved a week high in the previous session as emerging markets received a reprieve from Ukraine-related selling, but early on Wednesday this was a cause of worry to investors as economists expect the trade account to have swung back into deficit in March from a R1.72bn surplus in February.
"Export growth has been improving on last year's numbers, yet recovery will be dependent on recovery in the global economy and external demand, particularly with mining exports to Asia, where there continues to be a clear weakness," said Anisha Arora, emerging markets analyst at 4Cast.
The news from Wall Street is still positive, as company results continue to exceed expectations. Of the more than 270 companies on the Standard & Poor's index which have reported quarterly results so far, more than 75% exceeded analysts' estimates.
Naspers, which was on the verge of retreating to below R1 000 a share after reaching a high of R1 354.09 less than two months ago, was the focus of much attention on Wednesday morning. By midday the share traded at R1 001.08 - almost R34 or 3.28% weaker than Tuesday. That means the share has now lost more than 25% of its value.
There are concerns about the valuation of Tencent, the Chinese internet giant listed in Hong Kong, in which Naspers holds an interest of 34%. The sharp rise in the Naspers share price was mainly due to an equally impressive rise in the price of Tencent.
SABMiller, which traded at record levels on Tuesday, gave up 0.51% on Wednesday morning to trade at R569.57.
PSG added another R0.10 to Tuesday’s record of R102.90 to reach a new record of R103.00.
* Fin24 is part of Media24, a subsidiary of Naspers. Naspers has a 34% stake in Tencent.
The market was also waiting for important local economic data, including the latest trade data which is expected to have a strong influence on the rand.
By midday the All-share index was only 0.12% higher on 48 876 and the Top 40 index was only 0.13% higher, with the indices trading in a fairly narrow range all day. On Tuesday evening the All-share index closed just in the black after being down for most of the day.
The industrial index was 0.36% down by midday, but the resources index which was somewhat under pressure on Tuesday was unchanged by midday.
The news that growth in credit demand from South Africa's private sector quickened to 8.84% in March, from 8.67% in February, did not seem to have much of an effect on the market.
Expansion in the broadly defined M3 measure of money supply accelerated to 7.86%, from 5.93% the previous month.
The market was however awaiting trade data due later in the day with greater interest. The rand held steady against the dollar early on Wednesday but looked vulnerable.
The currency achieved a week high in the previous session as emerging markets received a reprieve from Ukraine-related selling, but early on Wednesday this was a cause of worry to investors as economists expect the trade account to have swung back into deficit in March from a R1.72bn surplus in February.
"Export growth has been improving on last year's numbers, yet recovery will be dependent on recovery in the global economy and external demand, particularly with mining exports to Asia, where there continues to be a clear weakness," said Anisha Arora, emerging markets analyst at 4Cast.
The news from Wall Street is still positive, as company results continue to exceed expectations. Of the more than 270 companies on the Standard & Poor's index which have reported quarterly results so far, more than 75% exceeded analysts' estimates.
Naspers, which was on the verge of retreating to below R1 000 a share after reaching a high of R1 354.09 less than two months ago, was the focus of much attention on Wednesday morning. By midday the share traded at R1 001.08 - almost R34 or 3.28% weaker than Tuesday. That means the share has now lost more than 25% of its value.
There are concerns about the valuation of Tencent, the Chinese internet giant listed in Hong Kong, in which Naspers holds an interest of 34%. The sharp rise in the Naspers share price was mainly due to an equally impressive rise in the price of Tencent.
SABMiller, which traded at record levels on Tuesday, gave up 0.51% on Wednesday morning to trade at R569.57.
PSG added another R0.10 to Tuesday’s record of R102.90 to reach a new record of R103.00.
* Fin24 is part of Media24, a subsidiary of Naspers. Naspers has a 34% stake in Tencent.
