Johannesburg - Stocks weakened in
the morning session on Friday as world markets paused to take a breather and
stocks retreated following yesterday's futures close-out.
At 09:15 the JSE all share index had given up 0.33%, with resources
shedding 0.96%, gold counters 2.08% lower and platinum miners dropping
1.31%.
Banks declined 0.73% and financials lost 0.27%, but industrials gained
0.30%.
The rand was bid at 7.45 to the dollar from 7.39 when the JSE closed on
Thursday. Gold was quoted at $1 011.44 a troy ounce from $1 017.37/oz at
the JSE's last close, and platinum was at $1 333.50/oz, from $1 333/oz
at its previous close.
A trader said: "Futures closed out yesterday with stocks being pushed
up, so markets are taking a bit of a breather this morning.
Commodities have
given up a bit with stocks like Billiton down overseas.
"Overall we are expecting a relatively quiet day with not too much news
flow in the pipeline. I expect we will drift slightly lower with nothing too
exciting on the horizon," he said.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that European stocks are expected to open
marginally lower on Friday, weighed down by weak sessions in the US and
Asia, as traders pause for breath and lock in some profits following the
markets' strength this week.
"Markets have had a very good run this week, so we are just seeing some
profit taking before the weekend," said Ben Potter, research analyst at IG
Markets. He noted that meaningful fundamentals look to be very thin on the
ground during the session so "trader sentiment is set to dominate and, after
the lengthy run of gains, precisely how much money they will be looking to
take off the table remains to be seen."
On Wall Street overnight, stocks slid on a mixed bag of economic data
and broke their three-day wining streak. After some recent economic news
that had been favourable for stocks, a report on housing starts early in the
US session broke that trend as it showed starts rose a less-than-expected
1.5% compared with the prior month. Though that report was offset by an
unexpected decline in the number of workers filing new claims for jobless
benefits last week, a morning decline in the market began the end to its
winning streak.
Overall, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.1% at 9783.92,
while the S&P 500 slipped 0.3%, to 1065.49. However, the day's declines were
relatively muted given nine of the S&P 500's 10 sectors closed in the red.
For now, the flood of investors increasing their exposure to riskier assets,
including stocks, seemingly continues to grow.
"There is a tremendous amount of cash on the sidelines that feels as
though they've missed, so every time there is a little selloff there seems
to be support," said David Kelson, a portfolio manager with Talon Asset
Management. "But I have some very real longer-term concerns, including
around commercial real estate."
- I-Net Bridge