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READ: SA avoids recession
By midday the All-share index was only 0.3% lower at 51 425 points, while the Top 40 index lost 0.09% to 46 167. On Monday the All-share index gained just more than half a percent, after a slow start to the day.
The Industrial index dropped by 0.08% to 59 837, as according to Imara SP Reid it is experiencing resistance to break through the 60 000 level.
The other major indices also hardly moved, with the Financial index only 0.03% higher, while the Resource index lost 0.12%.
Imara SP Reid said in its markets snapshot on Tuesday morning that financial shares are overbought and the resources index is slightly oversold. Not much will probably happen before there is more clarity on the state of the South African economy.
Just before midday on Tuesday Statistics SA announced that the economy grew by 0.6% in the second quarter of 2014. This was compared to a 0.6% drop in the real gross domestic product in the first quarter of the year.
These figures will hardly set the market alight, but at least mean the economy is not in a recession.
The impetus from Wall Street is still positive as the S&P index representing the top 500 shares on the American Stock Exchange on Monday temporarily broke through the 2 000 level for the first time. The market was supported by a fresh burst of merger activities attracting buyers.
Among the top resources shares Anglo American [JSE:AGL] lost 0.75% to R274.42, while BHP Billiton [JSE:BHP] was 0.67% lower on R334.32.
Gold shares were however higher on Tuesday morning, after the gold price increased by about 1%. The star performer was Gold Fields [JSE:GFI] which gained 2.69% to R56.52. The company announced strong results last week and the share price is now 9.2% higher than a month ago. It is however still 21.5% weaker than a year ago.
AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG] rose 0.84% to R179.50 and Harmony Gold [JSE:HAR] traded 0.82% higher at R32.01.
The Industrial index was a mixed bag with Naspers [JSE:NPN] 0.42% higher at R1 387.52, but SABMiller [JSE:SAB] losing 1.14% to R582.68.
- Fin24
