Johannesburg - The JSE turned around and moved
into the black in late trade on Thursday, ending 126 points higher with
gains being limited by weak precious metal counters and continued global
profit taking.
At 17:00 the JSE all share index had collected 0.48%, with resources
flat, down 0.06%, gold miners losing 2.22% and platinums shedding 2.34%.
Banks gave up 0.60%, but financials edged up 0.31% and industrials added
1.16%.
The rand was bid at 7.27 to the dollar from 7.26 just before the JSE
closed on Wednesday. Gold was quoted at $1 055.89 a troy ounce from
$1 060.60/oz just before the JSE's last close, and platinum was at
$1 350.50/oz, from $1 355.50/oz at its previous close.
"We definitely saw some profit taking in the market today. It would have
been the ninth day of straight gains," a trader said.
"Gold is losing its shine and it's the gold shares that are dragging us
lower. We are supported by the pound which has strengthened, the dual-listed
stocks are having a field day.
"The banks ran too hard and now they are also seeing profit taking.
There is global profit taking, Europe was down and the Dow is down at the
moment," he said.
Dow Jones Newswires reports that US stocks retreated on Thursday
morning, hurt by a pullback in the banking sector despite earnings from
Goldman Sachs and Citigroup that beat Wall Street expectations.
Those results failed to lift the broader index in part because many
investors had already placed big bets on the financial sector in the
previous session, when JP Morgan Chase released strong results of its own.
The bellwether's gain on Wednesday helped push the Dow Jones Industrial
Average to its first close above 10 000 in a year.
With some investors pausing to digest that milestone, the Dow was
recently off ten points, or 0.1%, at 10 005.66. The Nasdaq Composite Index
was off 0.2%.
The S&P 500 fell 0.2%, led by a 1.3% retreat in its financial category.
Citigroup was off 3.6% after reporting a third-quarter profit of $101m, compared with a year-earlier loss of $2.82bn. But including
preferred dividends, the company had a per-share loss of 27 cents in the
latest quarter. Revenue increased 25% to $20.4bn.
Goldman's results were even more stellar, though its shares traded 1.4%
lower in recent action. Goldman said its third-quarter profit rose to $3.19bn, or $5.25 a share, from $810m, or $1.81 a share a year ago,
beating analyst estimates by over $1 a share.
The market drew some support on Thursday from upbeat economic data. The
number of US workers filing new claims for jobless benefits decreased last
week to the lowest in nine months, a hopeful sign for the still weak job
market. Total claims also fell.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said its index general business
conditions moved to 11.5 in October from 14.1 in September and from 4.2 the
month before. The index has now remained positive for three consecutive
months.
In addition, conditions for New York manufacturers improved sharply in
October, increasing hopes that the US economy is firmly in recovery,
according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Empire Manufacturing
Survey released on Thursday. The report also showed gains in labour markets
as well.
Among stocks to watch, Nokia was off 10% after swinging to a third-
quarter loss and said it expects 2009 phone volumes to drop by an upwardly
revised 7% across the mobile industry. The company had previously forecast a
10% decline.
At the time the JSE close, the Djia was last down 0.28%.
- I-Net Bridge