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JSE pares early gains, follows Europe

Johannesburg - The JSE struggled to maintain upward momentum at noon on Monday, with some of its benchmark indexes slipping into negative territory in line with European markets.

At 12:04 local time, the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index was up 0.29% to 33 650.65 points, with resources adding 0.41%, while gold shares trimmed 0.19% and platinum miners shed 0.28%.

Banks were down 0.25%, while financials were flat (-0.04%) and industrials lifted 0.33%.

The rand was trading at 7.62 to the US dollar, from 7.67 at the JSE's close on Friday. Gold was quoted at US$1 665.78 a troy ounce from $1 663.23/oz at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was at $1 639/oz, from $1 632/oz from the previous session.

"We had a mixed bag by way of data points. China PMI (purchasing managers' index) figures were fairly positive, which helped lift market sentiment but eurozone unemployment disappointed on the upside," said Viv Govender, market analyst at Vunani Private Clients Services. Dow futures were also flat, he said.

European stocks turned lower after a positive opening, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

Traders put the falls down to the poor eurozone PMI manufacturing data. They also looked more closely at the official China PMI figures.

One trader said seasonality would likely have played a big part in the number and, despite the headline number, growth remained below trend.

Separately, eurozone unemployment figures made "grim reading", said Martin van Vliet at ING Bank. The number of jobless in the 17-country currency bloc rose by 162 000 in February, marking the tenth consecutive monthly rise.

London's FTSE 100 index was down 0.12% to 5 761.81 points at noon local time.

In Asia, stock markets ended mostly higher, starting off a new quarter on a positive note with a weaker yen lifting the Tokyo market.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.3% but Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gave up 0.2%. Mainland Chinese markets were closed for a holiday.
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Rand - Dollar
18.94
-0.2%
Rand - Pound
23.91
-0.1%
Rand - Euro
20.43
+0.2%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.34
+0.1%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.2%
Platinum
910.50
+1.5%
Palladium
1,011.50
+1.0%
Gold
2,221.35
+1.2%
Silver
24.87
+0.9%
Brent Crude
86.09
-0.2%
Top 40
68,346
+1.0%
All Share
74,536
+0.8%
Resource 10
57,251
+2.8%
Industrial 25
103,936
+0.6%
Financial 15
16,502
-0.1%
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