JSE seeks direction at start

Johannesburg - The JSE struggled to find a clear path at the opening session on Friday‚ despite a positive opening on the European share markets. But Asian shares were mostly lower.

“Equity markets opened with a minor hangover followed by uncertainty as they digest the absence of an immediate fix by ECB president Mario Draghi‚” said Shaun Murison‚ market analyst at IG Markets SA.

Murison said the anticipated bond purchasing in the secondary market failed to come to fruition as only more words of promise were issued.

“The irony is‚ the quest for price stability by the ECB sees Spanish 10-year bond yields soar well above the 7% mark again‚ while Italian 10-year’s also remain high at 6.36%.”

At 10:01 local time‚ the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index had edged up 0.06% to 35‚053‚23 points‚ with the Top-40 index also up 0.06% to 30‚836.13 points.

Among the top movers‚ Aquarius Platinum [JSE:AQP] was still under pressure dropping another 24 cents‚ or 5.22%‚ to R4.36‚ another fresh all-time low.

ArcelorMittal SA [JSE:ACL] was down 84 cents‚ or 1.90%‚ to R43.40.

In industrials‚ SABMiller [JSE:SAB] was down R8.56‚ or 2.33%‚ to R358.67 and Barloworld [JSE:BAW] shed R1.74‚ or 2.12%‚ to R80.26.

Sappi [JSE:SAP] was down 25 cents‚ or 1.02%‚ to R24.15 after the pulp and paper producer reported a loss of 20 US cents per share for the quarter ended June 2012 after a loss per share of 13 cents for the corresponding period a year ago and a profit of 11 cents per share in the March 2012 quarter.

The company said performance was impacted‚ as anticipated‚ by planned annual maintenance shuts as well as seasonal factors when compared to the prior quarter. Market conditions however deteriorated more than expected in the quarter as a result of the uncertainty in Europe and a general slowdown in all major markets.