Johannesburg - The JSE ended in the black on
Wednesday on the back of what a local trader said was improved sentiment
following an upgrading of global growth forecasts by the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and some buying returning to the markets.
Network connectivity issues caused the JSE to lose three hours
of trading time. The network issues started at the opening and
interruptions were experienced several times during the morning and
early afternoon.
At 17:00 local time, the JSE All Share
[JSE:J203] index was up 0.81% at
34 050.24 points, with banks rising 1.59%, financials added 0.96%, and
resources were 0.84% higher.
Industrials gained 0.77%.
Platinum miners were down 1.97%, and gold miners declined 0.80%.
The rand was trading at 7.80 to the US dollar, from 7.79 at
the JSE's close on Tuesday. Gold was quoted at $1 644.70 a troy ounce
from $1 649.04/oz at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was at
$1 576/oz, from $1 575/oz at the previous session.
Head of Treasury Strategic Research at Nedbank, Ian
Cruickshanks, said the IMF's new global growth outlook of 3.5% from 3.3%
was "not a big change but it's the direction that counts".
The IMF's forecasts had offset the disappointment that gripped
markets following the recent weaker than expected Chinese growth data,
he said.
Cruickshanks added that on the local bourse,
better-than-expected retail sales data had lifted retailers on the JSE,
and were suggesting that the retail sector was doing better than
expected. "Diversified miners are also doing well and banks have had a
pretty good run," he said.
US stocks pulled back after a two-day rally as lacklustre
earnings reports from a pair of blue-chip technology companies weighed
on the major indexes, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 30 points, or 0.2%, to
13 084 in Wednesday morning trade. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock
index gave up three points, or 0.3%, to 1 387, while the Nasdaq
Composite lost five points, or 0.1%, to 3 039.
The pullback, which chipped away at the Dow's two-day run of
266 points, was driven in part by the technology sector, as investors
digested disappointing earnings reports from International Business
Machines and Intel.
Also weighing on investor sentiment was a drop in European
stocks. Spain's IBEX-35 slumped 3.3% after the Bank of Spain said
commercial banks would need €29.08bn worth of
extra provisions and €15.57bn worth of core capital, and the
ratio of bad loans held by banks rose to a 17-year high of 8.16% in
February.
Another key auction of Spanish government bonds looms on Thursday.