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Johannesburg - The
JSE was flat at the opening on Friday, with little fresh news to offer
direction. Asian markets were mostly slightly lower, but European markets are
expected to open firmer, so the JSE may well change direction.
At 09:17 local time, the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index was
flat (-0.05%). Platinum miners fell 0.41%, gold miners shed 0.27%, but
resources were up a marginal 0.08%. Industrials gave up 0.10%, but banks added
0.24% and financials were flat (-0.08%)
The rand was trading at R7.70 to the US dollar, from R7.74
at the JSE's close on Thursday. Gold was quoted at $1 646.17 a troy ounce from
$1 636.18 at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was at $1 623/oz from $1
614.50/oz.
A local trader said that the local market was just slightly
weaker at the start, tracking the Dow which ended lower on Thursday and Asian
markets which were weaker early Friday. The gold price, she said, seemed to
have "settled a bit" after falling during the week.
Asian stock markets were mostly lower Friday with resource
and exporter stocks underperforming across the region as weak eurozone and
China PMIs renew concerns over slowing global growth, while the Tokyo market
struggled due to the yen's recent strength, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
The Nikkei fell 1.1%, the S&P/ASX declined 0.1%, the HSI
lost 1.3%, the Kospi was flat, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.9% and the Sensex
gained 0.4%.
The regional mood was dimmed by losses in Wall Street and
European stock markets Thursday, after poor Chinese manufacturing data was
followed by disappointing eurozone manufacturing activity.
However, Dow Jones Newswires reported investors are set to
foster a slightly higher opening in European markets in order to test the
appetite for risk, with simmering eurozone issues in the background.
For Friday's opening, IG Markets is calling the FTSE up 19
at 5864, the DAX up 15 at 6996, and the CAC up 3 at 3472.
"I would put Europe as the No. 1 issue. It has been the
No. 1 issue for markets over a year now," said Adrian Cronje, chief
investment officer at Balentine. "The (PMI) data (Thursday) suggested the
fact that the economic downturn there might be a little worse than people were
anticipating a few weeks ago."
US stock futures are slightly higher, after markets fell
Thursday after weak economic signals from the eurozone and China raised fresh
concerns about slowing global growth.
"The European debt-contagion woes, which really plagued the market in the latter half of last year, really started to flare up" Thursday, said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of Sarhan Capital. "Couple that with weakness in China, which has been the major driver of the rally so far this year, and it's not surprising to see a pullback."
