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Johannesburg - Recent geopolitical concerns had little effect on South African shares, but it does seem if local share prices cannot escape the fall-out of the recent development in the Ukraine, where a passenger plane was shot down by rebel forces.
All the major indices, except gold, were lower again on Friday, after the market’s run earlier in the week came to a halt on Thursday.
By lunchtime on Friday the All-share index was 0.61% lower on 51 474 points and the Top 40-index dropped 0.67% to 46 329 points. Financial shares was 1.09% down after a stong run earlier in the week and the industrial index dropped 0.59%. Resources was 0.50% weaker.
The geopolitical uncertainty following the air disaster in the Ukraine clearly put a damper on international sentiment with Wall Street significantly lower on Thursday and the Asian market following on Friday.
The interest rate hike announced by the South African Reserve Bank on Thursday also came somewhat as a surprise to the market, but the impact was insignificant as the rand reacted very little to the news.
There is however a strong suspicion that the uncertainty on the political front could very well be an excuse for investors to offload shares because they are worried about valuations if the market is trading at the current record levels.
The run earlier this week followed some profit-taking last week, which gave bargain hunters the opportunity to enter the market.
The future direction of the markets will still be depend on company result’s in the US, where the results season is beginning to gain momentum.
The first week of the earnings season has been largely about financial counters, which have reported earnings which were slightly more upbeat than the very low expectations.
The US market received further encouraging news as initial jobless claims in the US drifted down to 302 000, easily below expectations for a reading of 310 000. Continuing claims also improved, driving the four-week moving average down to 309 000.
In the financial sector Capitec’s record breaking run of late came to an abrupt halt when the share price dropped 1.77% to R231.04. FirstRand [JSE:FSR], which also traded at a new 52-week high earlier the week, lost 0.82% to R42.15. Barclays Africa [JSE:BGA] was 0.9% softer on R165.00.
In the industrial sector SABMiller [JSE:SAB] was 0.33% higher on R60.99, but Naspers [JSE:NPN] lost 1.14% to R1 303.30 and Richemont [JSE:CFR] was 1.10% softer on R107.64.
In the mining sector Anglo American [JSE:AGL] was only 0.05% weaker on R297.98 but BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL] lost 0.65% to R364.44 after trading at a 52-week high earlier in the week.
All the major indices, except gold, were lower again on Friday, after the market’s run earlier in the week came to a halt on Thursday.
By lunchtime on Friday the All-share index was 0.61% lower on 51 474 points and the Top 40-index dropped 0.67% to 46 329 points. Financial shares was 1.09% down after a stong run earlier in the week and the industrial index dropped 0.59%. Resources was 0.50% weaker.
The geopolitical uncertainty following the air disaster in the Ukraine clearly put a damper on international sentiment with Wall Street significantly lower on Thursday and the Asian market following on Friday.
The interest rate hike announced by the South African Reserve Bank on Thursday also came somewhat as a surprise to the market, but the impact was insignificant as the rand reacted very little to the news.
There is however a strong suspicion that the uncertainty on the political front could very well be an excuse for investors to offload shares because they are worried about valuations if the market is trading at the current record levels.
The run earlier this week followed some profit-taking last week, which gave bargain hunters the opportunity to enter the market.
The future direction of the markets will still be depend on company result’s in the US, where the results season is beginning to gain momentum.
The first week of the earnings season has been largely about financial counters, which have reported earnings which were slightly more upbeat than the very low expectations.
The US market received further encouraging news as initial jobless claims in the US drifted down to 302 000, easily below expectations for a reading of 310 000. Continuing claims also improved, driving the four-week moving average down to 309 000.
In the financial sector Capitec’s record breaking run of late came to an abrupt halt when the share price dropped 1.77% to R231.04. FirstRand [JSE:FSR], which also traded at a new 52-week high earlier the week, lost 0.82% to R42.15. Barclays Africa [JSE:BGA] was 0.9% softer on R165.00.
In the industrial sector SABMiller [JSE:SAB] was 0.33% higher on R60.99, but Naspers [JSE:NPN] lost 1.14% to R1 303.30 and Richemont [JSE:CFR] was 1.10% softer on R107.64.
In the mining sector Anglo American [JSE:AGL] was only 0.05% weaker on R297.98 but BHP Billiton [JSE:BIL] lost 0.65% to R364.44 after trading at a 52-week high earlier in the week.
