Johannesburg - The JSE was in negative territory on Thursday
morning‚ with only gold miners showing some upside after good gains on
Wednesday‚ while platinum counters were the main laggards due to continued
labour troubles.
At 9:19am‚ the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index was 0.39%
lower at 37‚010.80 points‚ with the gold index up 0.44% and platinums shedding
1.41%.
Asian markets were stronger‚ with the Nikkei average in
Tokyo 0.21% firmer and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index up 0.57% at 9:10am local
time.
Thursday’s data calendar is busy‚ with the release of a
number of countries’ purchasing managers index (PMI) numbers‚ including SA’s.
“Expectations are for other major economies - such as the US
- to also register improvements in their October readings. The recession in
Europe should‚ however‚ be reflected in a further weakening of their index‚”
RMB said.
In SA‚ the Kagiso PMI and the quarterly labour force survey
(QLFS) are due for release on Thursday. RMB said: “We would not be surprised by
another weak PMI number given that the unrest in the mining sector continued
through October and that global PMI indicators have not shown a notable
improvement.
“On the labour front‚ the market expectation is for an
increase in the unemployment rate to 25% from 24.9%‚” it said.