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JSE trades softer

Johannesburg - The JSE continued its downward bias in the opening session on Thursday‚ in line with world markets as risk appetite around the globe diminishes.

World markets are awaiting the outcomes of policy meetings by the Bank of England and the European Central Bank‚ with no changes in policies expected by both central banks.

Friday’s US non-farm payroll employment data is also in focus‚ as it should shed more light on the US Federal Reserve (Fed’s) monetary easing policy direction.

At 9:40‚ the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index was trading 0.35% down at 40 649.77 points. Retailers were the biggest losers‚ shedding 1.98%‚ followed by gold miners‚ which gave back 1.40% on softer commodity prices.

Global markets are trading risk-off and this represents a morphing from the one-dimensional concerns over the Fed to generalised uncertainty‚ Rand Merchant Bank said in a morning note.

“Fed fears have actually diminished. Yesterday’s Automatic Data Processing (ADP) employment report‚ which showed only 135‚000 were created in May‚ significantly reduces the scope that tomorrow’s all-important official non-farm payroll employment figures will show a sharp increase‚” the bank said.

“But poor data has its own negative implications. US equities continue to slip. Add the continued sell-off in Japanese stocks as some of the froth over Abenomics subsides‚ and global equities are being badly hit. Emerging markets are no exception‚ and neither is the JSE. This has not yet translated into large foreign selling‚ but this is a concern‚” RMB said.

Among individual shares on the JSE‚ Exxaro (EXX) shed 2.39% to R147 and Imperial (IPL) gave back 2.73% to R197.46.

Gold miners Harmony (HAR) declined 1.86% to R41‚22 and AngloGold Ashanti (ANG) retreated 1.52% to R175.08 after good gains on Wednesday.

Retailers Woolies (WHL) gave back 2.56% to R68.50 and Truworths (TRU) was down 2.13% at R79.76.

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Rand - Dollar
18.90
+0.2%
Rand - Pound
23.85
+0.2%
Rand - Euro
20.39
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Rand - Aus dollar
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