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Johannesburg - The JSE edged lower on Thursday, dragged down by softer commodity prices, which hit mining stocks. But Wall Street opened higher on Thursday after encouraging weekly jobs data.
Andrew Todd, an equity derivatives trader at Imara SP Reid, said Anglo American [JSE:AGL] , whose share price fell over 2%, weighed on the overall market. Todd said he was not sure why Anglo was dropping. Compagnie Richement added downward pressure on the market due mainly to profit-taking.
At 17:00, the JSE all share index ended 0.48% lower, with resources falling 1.09%, gold miners declining 0.44% and platinum miners edging down 1.88%. Industrials also shed 0.21%.
Bucking the trend, banks rose 0.32% and financials gained 0.25%.
The rand was bid at 6.88 to the dollar from 6.91 at the JSE's close on Wednesday. Gold was quoted at US$1 391.43 a troy ounce from US$1 390.41/oz at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was at $1 689.50/oz from $1 699.00/oz before.
Todd said the local market had outperformed in the past couple of days.
Another trader said 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 of the South African Reserve Bank released on 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 Quarterly Bulletin said.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that US stocks edged higher on Thursday, with financials leading the modest gains following an upgrade to a group of asset managers and an encouraging weekly jobs report.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 13 points, or 0.1%, to 11 387.
Boosting sentiment, the Labor Department said initial unemployment claims fell by 17 000 to 421 000 in the week ended Dec. 4. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected claims would fall by 13 000.
However, the previous week's figures were revised slightly upward.
Thursday's report was encouraging to investors. Last week's monthly payrolls figures came as a sharp disappointment to the market, which had expected to see more robust jobs growth.
The dollar strengthened against the euro, but weakened against the yen.
The euro was trading recently at $1.3231, down from $1.3263 late Wednesday in New York. The common currency softened after Fitch Ratings downgraded Ireland to triple-B-plus, the third-lowest investment-grade rating, citing the costs of restructuring the country's banking system and the loss of access to affordable funding in the market.
Treasury prices rose on Thursday following the biggest two-day sell-off in two years, as higher yields lured buyers. The yield on the 10-year note retreated to 3.21%.
