Johannesburg - The JSE opened slightly weaker on Tuesday in
what a local trader said was a catch up with global markets. The JSE was closed
on Friday and Monday for public holidays.
At 09:15 local time, the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index was
down 0.17%. Resources were 0.86% lower, platinum miners fell 0.83%, and gold
miners were down 0.16%.
Banks, however, lifted 0.34%, financials and industrials
both gained 0.11%.
The rand was trading at R7.87 to the US dollar, from R7.81
at the JSE's close on Thursday. Gold was quoted at $1 649.18 a troy ounce from
$1 631.27/oz at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was at $1 617/oz, from
$1 602/oz at the previous session.
The trader said the JSE was particularly still responding to
weaker-than-expected US jobs data.
"We may come off our worst levels as the day progresses
but this morning we're still pretty much a mixed bag," she said.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that Asian stock markets were
mostly lower as investors continued to weigh the potential implications of
recent disappointing economic data from the US and China.
The Nikkei fell 0.1%, the S&P/ASX slid 0.6%, the HSI
lost 1.2%, the Kospi gave up 0.1%, the Taiex rose 0.5%, the Sensex slipped
0.1%, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.7%, the STI rose 0.3%, and the NZX-50 added
0.2%.
With all regional markets back online following multiple
market closings on Friday and Monday for holidays, Friday's below-view US jobs
report and Monday's higher-than-expected Chinese inflation reading for March were
at play.
Investors continued to weigh the implications of the
disappointing data points and whether they represented the first signs
of a weakening data trend and perhaps a slowdown in the pace of the global
economic recovery.