Related Articles
Top Stories
May 27 2012 11:21
There's a price war raging between South Africa's cellphone networks after Cell C lowered the rates of its prepaid calls by more than 34%.
May 28 2012 07:53
The City of Cape Town has spent R175m running the Myciti bus service since the Soccer World Cup compared to an income of R35m, a report says.
May 27 2012 13:09
The oversupply of golf estates has claimed another victim.
Johannesburg - The JSE remained weaker at noon on Wednesday, taking
strain after global markets edged down on the back of
disappointing
economic data from China and Japan.
By
12:09 local time the JSE all share index had declined 0.48%. Gold miners rose 1.55%,
but resources edged down 0.85% and platinum miners fell 0.46%. Banks added
0.30%, but financials lost 0.08%, and industrials weakened 0.30%.
The rand was bid at R7.28 to the dollar from R7.21 at the JSE's close on Tuesday. Gold was
quoted at $1 196.52 a troy ounce from $1 194.74/oz at the JSE's previous
close, while platinum was at $1 537.50/oz from $1 540.50/oz before.
A
trader said the local market maintained some weakness, as negative news from Japan and
China weighed on sentiment.
"There
is nothing to put the spark on the market as investors did not react much to the Fed
statement yesterday," the trader said
The US Federal Reserve announced new plans on Tuesday to support the slowing US economy.
Kevin Algeo, portfolio manager at Imara S P Reid, said the local market opened lower as China
dampened sentiment after reporting economic data indicating that the
economy is not growing as quickly as anticipated.
"The big question regarding China is: is it heading for a soft landing or a hard
landing," Algeo said.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that Asian stock markets were mostly lower on Wednesday as
concerns over the health of US economy weighed on sentiment with exporters
falling in Japan.
A
raft of data from China also showed that country's economy was cooling; however,
Chinese property shares rebounded as July inflation came in mostly in line
with expectations, helping ease worries over further potential monetary
policy tightening.
The Federal Reserve's acknowledgement that the US economic recovery was slowing and its
decision to reinvest proceeds from expiring mortgage-backed securities into
long-term Treasurys to help keep mortgage rates low held little cheer for the
market.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average closed 2.70% lower, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index finished
0.83% weaker.
European stock markets pushed lower on Wednesday, with market participants showing
a degree of caution after the Federal Reserve on Tuesday downgraded
its outlook for the health of the world's largest economy.
- I-Net Bridge