Johannesburg - The JSE was up slightly at noon on Wednesday
with resources and platinums leading the upside on better Chinese economic data
out this morning.
The Chinese HSBC flash manufacturing purchasing managers’
index increased to 49.1 in October from 47.9 in September‚ which may indicate
that China has seen the worst of the contraction in their manufacturing sector.
The HSBC flash figure is however not the final official number for the Chinese
manufacturing sector‚ but provides an indication of economic conditions.
At 12:07pm‚ the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index was up 0.17%
at 36‚741.03; resources and platinums were up 0.36% and 0.34% respectively.
European markets were flat with the London FTSE 100 seen
0.02% weaker at 11:52am local time‚ while in the East the Nikkei 225 ended
0.67% lower.
“The SA market has been flat for much of the day. It is
rather dull‚ but dull is good after all the turmoil we have had in the market
of late‚” said Wayne McCurrie from Momentum Investments.
“We have seen some small movements in the market today. The
local inflation figure this morning was a bit worse than expected‚ but it had
no affect on our market. The chance of another rate cut‚ however‚ is now
non-existent‚” he said.
“The local platinum sector has been underperforming the
all-share index for the last five years‚ tumbling by 70% compared to the
all-share index. Platinum counters were way too expensive five years ago‚ and
now no one is interested in them‚” he added.
“The rand is relatively weak‚ an indicator of the trials and
tribulations SA has had as of late in the mining sector. Foreigners have voted
with their feet and have pulled their money out of our market‚” he added.
The rand was trading at R8.8080 to the greenback at noon on
Wednesday from R8.7595 on Tuesday.
Rand Merchant Bank said in a note that there had been a
string of factors that had added to renewed concern over the global outlook.
“The Spanish economy contracted by 0.4% quarter on quarter
in the third quarter of this year‚ highlighting their economic vulnerability.
It also increased the likelihood that Spain will miss its budget deficit
targets for this year and next. Apart from Spanish woes‚ the release of
eurozone consumer confidence data highlighted that European consumers remain
under pressure. The euro is facing a lot of bad news which is dragging the rand
along with it‚” the bank said.
“The news is not much better across the ocean. The US‚ which
has provided some reason to be optimistic over the past few weeks‚ is starting
to concern the markets. The worry is fuelled by poor company results‚ which
raises questions about the sustainability of the latest round of positive US
data releases‚” it said.