Johannesburg - The JSE came off its lows in midday trade on Friday,
however, the local market remains volatile in line with global sentiment
following Wall Street's plummet overnight and the continuing Greek
crisis.
By
12:00 the JSE all share index was off 1.87%, with resources 1.16% softer, and platinum
miners 1.56% weaker. Gold miners added 0.75%. Banks were off 2.79%, financials shed 2.54% and industrials were 2.17% lower.
The rand was bid at R7.71 to the dollar from R7.67 at the JSE's close on Thursday. Gold was
quoted at $1 1201.24 a troy ounce from $1 184.47/oz at the JSE's last close.
Platinum was at $1 663/oz from $1 665/oz at the JSE's last close.
"A local trader said: "We have come off our lows, having initially reacted to a drop on
Wall Street overnight. The US situation, along with continued problems in
Greece has led to volatile Dow futures. We are tracking that
volatility.
"US non-farm payrolls data is out later and could provide a positive shine to
markets," he said.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that European stocks came off their lows.
US
futures are indicating a bounce, following the stark losses witnessed in the previous
session. However, there could be some nervousness ahead of US non-farm payrolls
data. The data are expected to show a figure of 176 000
jobs, with an unemployment rate of 9.7%, said Michael Hewson at CMC
Markets.
US
stocks are tipped to open higher on Friday, rebounding after the sharp losses on Thursday.
David Morrison of GFT called the DJIA up 45 points at 10 565, and the
S&P up 7 at 1135.0. He said that Thursday's shocking free-fall in equities
should be a wake-up call to market participants. "It seems more probable that
the move was caused by the High Frequency Trading programmes which now
dominate activity on US exchanges. For as long as this activity carries on
unchecked, then integrity of the markets is in doubt," he said. Also on the
data plate, consumer credit figures are due 19:00.
On
Wall Street on Thursday, stocks plunged, falling for a third-straight session, in a selloff
accelerated by automated orders and possible erroneous trades, as investors
grew increasingly restless over southern Europe's festering
sovereign-debt woes.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the session down 3.2% to 10 520.32, its
biggest point drop since February 2009. The average at one point fell as much as
998.50 points, or 9.2%, the biggest intraday drop in its history.
In
Asia, shares were lower on Friday, but recovering some ground as investors took heart
from the realisation that a trading glitch was partly behind Wall Street's
slide overnight and began to bargain hunt.
However, concerns that Greece's debt problems could engulf the weaker European countries
continued to linger.
Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 3.1%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 1.06%, and the
Shanghai Composite index was down 1%.
- I-Net Bridge