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Miners weigh on JSE

Johannesburg - The JSE traded weaker in Wednesday midday trade, weighed down mostly by gold and platinum miners. A local trader attributed the weaker gold and platinum miners to growth and demand concerns in China.

At 12:02 local time, the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index was down 0.40% to 33 723.89 points, with platinum shares losing 1.74%, gold miners losing 1.25%, and resources falling 1.10%.

Banks were 0.53% in the red, and financials dipped 0.44%.

Industrials, however, added 0.14%.

The rand was trading at 7.62 to the US dollar, from 7.59 at the JSE's close on Tuesday. Gold was quoted at $1 675.56 a troy ounce from  $1 686.48/oz at the JSE's previous close, while platinum dipped to $1 630/oz from $1 653/oz.

The trader said that there was some consolidation in the local market, and a lot of selling, mostly in mining and resource counters.

These, the trader added, were weaker as investors were concerned that negative data out of China could mean lower demand and consumption by Chinese companies.

European stock markets flipped between mild gains and losses on Wednesday, as cautious comments made by Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke on Tuesday were weighed against hopes that eurozone leaders could reach an agreement on a firewall increase at Friday's Eurogroup meeting, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

The benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index had fallen 0.2% to 265.52 at 08:47 GMT. Regionally, London's FTSE 100 index was flat at 5 866.35, Paris's CAC 40 index was flat at 3 464.56 and Frankfurt's DAX was also flat at 7 077.45.

In a televised interview with ABC News on Tuesday, Bernanke said that the US economy isn't on a certain path to a full recovery, warning that the housing market is still "pretty flat", long-term unemployment remains a problem and that the 8.3% jobless rate was still too high.

His remarks followed Monday's commitment to accommodative monetary policy, which was regarded as market friendly by traders.

At the same time, the focus was shifting to Friday's Eurogroup meeting and more specifically the firewall increase discussion regarding eurozone rescue funds.
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Rand - Dollar
18.94
-0.2%
Rand - Pound
23.91
-0.1%
Rand - Euro
20.43
+0.2%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.34
+0.1%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.2%
Platinum
910.50
+1.5%
Palladium
1,011.50
+1.0%
Gold
2,221.35
+1.2%
Silver
24.87
+0.9%
Brent Crude
86.09
-0.2%
Top 40
68,346
+1.0%
All Share
74,536
+0.8%
Resource 10
57,251
+2.8%
Industrial 25
103,936
+0.6%
Financial 15
16,502
-0.1%
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