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Johannesburg - Bucking the international trend with little in the way of fresh news or economic data to provide direction for global markets, the JSE was firmer in noon trade on Wednesday, buoyed by a marginally weaker rand and firmer metal prices.
At noon the JSE all share index was up 0.61%, with platinum miners adding 1.24%, gold stocks gaining 0.92% and resources 0.70% firmer. Banks were up 1.00%, with financials 0.75% higher and industrials 0.42% firmer.
The rand was bid at R7.40 to the dollar, from R7.38 seen at the JSE's close on Tuesday. Gold was quoted at $1 1125.76 a troy ounce from $1 115.84 at the JSE's last close. Platinum was at $1 612.50/oz from $1 591.50/oz at the JSE's last close.
"We had a flat start and the JSE has only recently started climbing. The rand certainly seems to be helping and guys still appear to be going for interest rate-sensitive stocks," a local equities trader said.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that European stocks were slightly lower on Wednesday, grappling for direction in rather muted trade, with building materials stocks proving to be a drag after negative analyst comments, while bonds and currencies seemed stuck within tight ranges.
Asian indices mixed
"The word 'tired' makes plenty of appearances in this morning's market reports," said Ian Williams, economist at Altium Securities. "US indices made very modest progress on the first anniversary of the S&P's low point... Asian indices were similarly mixed, setting up a flat open in Europe."
Major Asian markets ended mixed on Wednesday after moving in a narrow range as investors looked toward crucial economic data due this week, while Chinese stocks snapped a three-day advance amid concerns about policy tightening.
Many investors in New Zealand and South Korea were on the sidelines ahead of their central banks' policy decisions on Thursday, while traders were also looking toward US retail sales results on Friday for cues.
"If China's consumer price inflation data (due Thursday) comes in higher than expected, that would renew concerns about the possibility of an imminent rate hike in China. So investors seem to want to see that data before buying more stocks," said Jung Seung-jae at Mirae Asset Securities in Seoul.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average of 225 companies, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 finished flat after moving in and out of positive territory during the session. South Korea's Kospi and Taiwan's Taiex ended 0.1% higher, while India's Sensex gained 0.3% in afternoon trading. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down five points in screen trade.
China's Shanghai Composite declined 0.7% after rising in the previous three sessions.
- I-Net Bridge
