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Johannesburg - The JSE was little changed in quiet trade at noon on Friday, as investors remained cautious amid speculation that China might cut interest rates again.
The market is awaiting key economic data from the US for direction.
By 12:03 local time the JSE all share index was flat (0.05%), with platinum miners falling 0.63% and gold miners sliding 0.21%. But resources rose 0.42%. Banks were down 0.33%, financials lost 0.16%, and industrials shed 0.28%.
The rand was bid at 6.88 to the dollar, unchanged from the JSE's close on Thursday. Gold was quoted at US$1 388.07 a troy ounce from US$1 391.48/oz at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was at $1 679.00/oz from $1 689.50/oz before.
"The overall market is negative, but there are no huge moves," a trader said. "The market is quiet and trading volumes are low."
Dow Jones Newswires reported that European stocks were little changed on Friday, unable to make much headway as investors refrained from making any bold moves ahead of a potential rate hike by China at the weekend, despite renewed optimism over global growth prospects.
In London, the FTSE 100 was flat (0.06%).
Thursday's better-than-expected US initial jobless claims data have helped to alleviate fears over the US labor market, as it suggests last week's surprisingly weak nonfarm payrolls figures were an aberration.
"Payrolls has always been something of a rogue statistic - with month-on-month deviations that cannot be explained by other high frequency date on the labor market, and we believe that a more consistent picture is being painted by data such as [jobless] claims, and consumer sentiment indicators on the availability of jobs, as well as hiring intentions by small firms, all of which are picking up," said ING.
Asian stock markets were mostly lower on Friday, as many investors took to the sidelines after robust China trade data heightened concerns of an imminent rate hike from Beijing.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average ended up 0.52%, but Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was last 0.04 lower.
