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Resources drag JSE into the red

Johannesburg  - The JSE was down at noon as resources led trade downwards.

A local trader said: "We're taking a bit of a downturn; however, there are very low volumes at the moment."

He attributed trade in the red to the effect of the resource stocks that had come under pressure from a weaker euro.

Investors were also turning away from gold, with a view that it has run its course. The trader said this may not necessarily be the case and he thought that gold had simply run ahead of itself slightly.

At noon local time, the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index had declined 0.75%, with platinums down 1.47%, gold losing 1.34% and resources lessening 0.85%.

Banks lost 1.18%, financials dropped 0.71% and industrials retreated 0.66%.

The rand was bid at 8.12 to the dollar from 8.14 at the JSE's close on Wednesday. Gold traded at $1 549.90 a troy ounce from $1 573.70 at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was quoted at $1 364/oz, from $1 399/oz at the previous close.

The trader said that tomorrow being the last day of trade for the year might see a bit of a push; however, people were not particularly bullish about 2012 if current talk was to be believed.

Dow Jones Newswires reported that European stock markets were recovering previous session losses to trade marginally higher on Thursday in thin volume and ahead of an auction of long-dated Italian bonds.

In what was expected to be a sleepy week in between holidays, markets took a sharp move lower and strong risk-off trades were seen across assets on Wednesday.

The European Central Bank's overnight deposit facility reached a second consecutive record on Tuesday, suggesting banks would rather park cash there than lend it to other banks.

It seems investors aren't able to shed the burden of the debt crisis even on calm days with low trading volume and almost no corporate newsflow, said Ralf Marinoni, a senior analyst at Close Brothers Seydler.

"The successful placement of some short-dated Italian bonds (on Wednesday) did not bring enough positive impact; rather, investors have focused on a further auction of long-dated securities on Thursday."

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Rand - Dollar
18.89
+0.2%
Rand - Pound
23.84
+0.3%
Rand - Euro
20.36
+0.4%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.30
+0.3%
Rand - Yen
0.12
+0.2%
Platinum
908.05
0.0%
Palladium
1,014.94
0.0%
Gold
2,232.75
-0.0%
Silver
24.95
-0.1%
Brent Crude
87.00
+1.8%
Top 40
68,346
0.0%
All Share
74,536
0.0%
Resource 10
57,251
0.0%
Industrial 25
103,936
0.0%
Financial 15
16,502
0.0%
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