Uninspired start for JSE

Johannesburg - The JSE was relatively flat at the opening session on Tuesday‚ in line with leading global stock market indices.

At 09:24 local time‚ the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index was down 0.13% at 33‚888.41 points‚ with resources losing 0.62% but gold shares gained 0.53% and platinum counters were flat (-0.04%).

Financials were also flat (0.07%)‚ banking stocks slipped 0.14% and industrials were flat (0.04%).

The rand was trading at R8.24 to the US dollar‚ from R8.26 at the JSE’s close on Monday‚ while gold changed hands at $1 583.95 a troy ounce from $1 587.88/oz at the JSE’s previous close and platinum was quoted at $1 437.50/oz‚ from $1 448.50/oz previously.

“The US kicked off its second-quarter earnings in a positive fashion‚ with the aluminium company Alcoa beating market estimates. That is a sort of sentiment determinant for the resources sector‚” said Kevin Algeo‚ market watcher at Imara SP Reid. “But trade data from China had a negative impact on the resources.”

European stocks opened similarly flat‚ with London’s FTSE 100 index up 0.12%.

Investors were getting to grips with more signs of a slowdown in China‚ and a fairly underwhelming Eurogroup meeting‚ although a decent start to the US earnings season may help to underpin sentiment‚ Dow Jones Newswires reported.

There was more bad news from China‚ where trade data for June showed slowing demand.

The trade surplus came in higher than expected‚ at $31.7bn‚ but this was primarily due to weak import growth - a sign that domestic demand is slowing. The trade data came a day after figures showed Chinese inflation eased more than expected in June‚ which does not bode well for Friday’s second-quarter gross domestic product figure.

In Asia‚ Japan’s Nikkei average ended the session 0.44% weaker‚ while the Hang Seng index was up 0.13% by 09:23 SA time.