Johannesburg - Local stocks were slightly lower on Friday morning‚ after a sharp drop on the JSE on Thursday‚ when global markets were roiled by the US Federal Reserve’s policy announcement on Wednesday.
The biggest beneficiary of the Fed chairman Ben Bernanke’s speech — in which he said tapering of its bond-buying programme would probably begin later this year — was the dollar‚ which booked massive gains on Thursday.
Gold took a beating on Thursday as expectations of lower US inflation led investors to dump bullion in favour of dollars. Gold is perceived as a safe haven against inflation.
At 10:03 the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index was 0.15% softer at 39 475.9 points‚ after shedding more than 3% on Thursday.
Platinum and resources stocks showed a bit of upside‚ RISING 0.13% and 0.1% respectively‚ after huge sell-offs in these indices on Thursday.
Gold miners‚ however‚ continued their slide from Thursday‚ despite a firmer dollar gold price on Friday morning.
At 10.03 the spot gold price was quoted at $1 296.894 an ounce‚ up 1.31% from Thursday.
The gold index fell 1.51% on Friday morning‚ after closing 3.73% lower on Thursday.
Major European markets were trading firmer‚ with London’s FTSE 100 0.53% higher at 9:48. Asian markets were mixed‚ with the Nikkei 225 ending 1.7% firmer‚ while the Hong Kong Hang Seng index was 0.66% softer shortly before the bourse’s close.
Among individual shares on the JSE‚ Kumba Iron Ore (KIO) gained 1.24% to trade at R451.04‚ after plummeting 7.59% on Thursday. Exxaro (EXX) added 0.93% after losing more than 4% yesterday.
Gold counter AngloGold Ashanti (ANG) dropped 1.57% to R146.89 and Gold Fields (GFI) lost 1.81% to R54.35‚ while Harmony (HAR) bucked the trend‚ edging up 0.11% to R35.84.
Platinum miner Lonmin (LON) was up 1.71% at R43.35.
Among industrials SABMiller (SAB) picked up 0.96% to R497.87‚ after shedding more that 3% on Thursday.
In the retail sector Woolies continued losing traction‚ dropping 2.06% to R61.70‚ after plunging more than 5% on Thursday.