Johannesburg - The JSE pared earlier gains at noon as gold shares weighed on the overall market due to rand/dollar strength.
At 12:48‚ the All Share [JSE:J203] index was up 0.15% to 37 822.18 points. Gold counters lost 1.16%.
“The rand strengthened a bit to the US dollar which impacted negatively on the gold shares‚” said Brandon Sacks‚ a trader at Avior Research. “As the year winds down‚ market players are also starting to lock in profits.”
The local currency firmed to 8.82 to the greenback in intraday trade.
European shares remained firmer in the afternoon session‚ with UK’s FTSE 100 gaining 0.39% by 12:33 local time.
The US durable goods and consumer confidence numbers will be the focus in the afternoon to determine the short term trend.