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Johannesburg - The JSE was stuck in negative territory in midday trade on Thursday, as mining stocks came under pressure.
By 12:02 local time the JSE all share index had lost 0.47%, with platinum miners falling 1.58%, resources edging down 1.08% and gold miners sliding 0.16%. Banks were down 0.31%, financials fell 0.15%, and industrials shed 0.06%.
The rand was bid at 6.92 to the dollar from 6.91 at the JSE's close on Wednesday. Gold was quoted at US$1 384.62 a troy ounce from US$1 390.41/oz at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was at $1 686.20/oz from $1 699.00/oz before.
Anglo American (AGL) dropped over 2%, while other resources counters were not down nearly as much, a trader said. There was nothing specific that had pulled down Anglo's share price, but he added that there could be something at play.
The trader added that the local market had only a muted response to South Africa's current account deficit.
South Africa's current account deficit widened to -3.0% of GDP in the third quarter from -2.5% in the second quarter, the third quarter Quarterly Bulletin (QB) of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) released Thursday showed.
The deficit came on the back of an improved performance of the trade account, which recorded a R32.4bn surplus from a R13.2bn surplus in the second quarter. Terms of trade improved, the QB said.
The trader said the market was awaiting the US jobless claims data later today.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that European stocks rose on Thursday, with basic resources issues posting big gains, as investors cheered strong Japanese economic growth figures and solid Australian employment data.
"The global economy is in recovery mode. Growth has reverted to the pre-crisis rates in nearly all major countries and blocs of the global economy," said Credit Suisse in a note. "As things stand, we think that global goods demand and production momentum - the key driver of investor risk appetite, in our view - is already setting itself up to run at a higher rate in the first half of 2011," it added.
In London, the FTSE 100 gained 0.15%.
Asian stock markets were mostly higher, with shares in Sydney powering to a four-week high after a strong employment report but the China market was hobbled by concerns about an imminent rate hike from Beijing.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average ended up 0.52%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed up 0.34.
