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JSE opens flat in quiet trade

Johannesburg - The JSE opened flat on Friday, with the market swinging from a slight loss to a small gain within an hour of trade.

At 09:46 local time the JSE all share index had gained 0.24% and resources rose 0.17%. Platinum miners fell slightly 0.06%, gold miners added 0.10%. Banks gained 0.07%, financials were flat (-0.01) with industrials 0.45% stronger.

The rand was bid at R7.61 to the dollar from R7.65 at the JSE's close on Thursday. Gold was quoted at $1 246.19 a troy ounce from $1 243.47/oz at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was at $1 562.00/oz from $1 554.50/oz at the JSE's last close.

Kevon Algoe, portfolio manager at Imara S P Reid, said the market opened flat this morning, noting that Wall Street had a strong reversal on Thursday.

Algoe said he expected the local market to weaken today, but he tempered this prediction by saying it could rebound given that the market had fallen in the last three trading days.

He said uncertainties remained after the US reported poor home sales data this week.

A local trader said local investors focused on the trading updates of US companies overnight.

He said the market realised that the proposed Australian tax would not be as onerous as was previous feared.

The market was very quiet, the trader said.

Globally, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 1.4% on Thursday, according to the Dow Jones Newswire.

"Renewed concern about Greek sovereign default risk, combined with US financial regulation and recent weakness in US economic data have equity markets up against the ropes," said IG Markets Strategist Ben Potter in Sydney.

"Trading volumes (in Asia) are pretty low because of the North American summer holidays, but markets could keep tracking these kind (of) stories for another few weeks," Potter said.

There were growing concerns over "a double-dip" in the US and European economies, said Oh Tae-dong at Taurus Investment & Securities.

"Caution prevails due to growing worries over European and US economic growth in the second half (of the year)....But the Kospi is unlikely to fall further from current levels as local pension funds are expected to continue to pour cash into local stocks."

In the US, the final release of US first-quarter GDP is expected on Friday, followed by the University of Michigan confidence index.

Meanwhile, the Group of Eight meeting begins on Friday in Canada, where the financial crisis that has been blighting the major global economies will be discussed, along with the austerity measures that have begun to be implemented by the UK, France and Germany.

  - I-Net Bridge

 
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Rand - Dollar
18.94
-0.2%
Rand - Pound
23.91
-0.1%
Rand - Euro
20.43
+0.2%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.34
+0.1%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.2%
Platinum
910.50
+1.5%
Palladium
1,011.50
+1.0%
Gold
2,221.35
+1.2%
Silver
24.87
+0.9%
Brent Crude
86.09
-0.2%
Top 40
68,346
+1.0%
All Share
74,536
+0.8%
Resource 10
57,251
+2.8%
Industrial 25
103,936
+0.6%
Financial 15
16,502
-0.1%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
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