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Johannesburg - The JSE opened flat on Friday morning‚ with gold and platinum miners once again pulling on the downside after recent good gains.
At 9:17 the All Share [JSE:J203] index was trading flat‚ off 0.05% at 40 711.09 points‚ with the Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] dipping 0.12%. The gold index gave back 1.08% and platinum miners slipped 0.40%‚ while resources managed to gain 0.24%.
Global risk on Friday is focused on the US‚ with a string of data on the agenda‚ and the Group of 20 (G-20) meeting in Russia.
“The G-20 has said it will make a statement on global currencies‚ which will be similar but not exactly the same as the one made by the G-7. Given the confusion over the G-7 statement‚ this is a chance for global policy makers to clarify their position. The yen trades nervously as it awaits the result‚” Rand Merchant Bank said in its morning note.
On the local front‚ RMB said President Jacob Zuma’s state of the nation address turned out to be a bit of a disappointment‚ long on promises but short on detail.
“The minimum pace of 5% growth to create 11 million jobs by 2030 is a tall order given the slow pace of infrastructure delivery. The statement was not nearly as business-friendly as hoped‚ and there seems to be notable concern about the veiled message of big government being good for the economy — the public sector already accounts for almost 30% of gross domestic product‚” the bank said.
On the JSE‚ resources group Anglo American plc (AGL) was trading 2.12% higher at R281.15 after reporting on Friday morning a 55% decline in underlying earnings per share to 2.26 US cents for the year ended December 2012 from 5.06 cents a year ago. Underlying earnings fell 54% to $2.8bn. Rival BHP Billiton (BIL) was down 0.12% at R304‚50.
Among gold miners‚ Harmony (HAR) shed 2.71% to R62.51 and AngloGold Ashanti (ANG) dipped 1.48% to R250.89‚ while newly listed Sibanye Gold (SGL) added a further 3.37% to R16.85‚ after surging 8% on Thursday. Sibanye listed at R13 on Monday‚ with analysts seeing value in the stock at R18.
Gold Fields (GFI) was trading 0.38% softer at R89.92 on Friday morning. The gold miner reported headline earnings per share of 131c for the quarter ended December from 165c in the September quarter on Thursday.
On the platinum front Lonmin (LON) gave back 1.53% to R50.16‚ Northam Platinum (NHM) dipped 0.63% to R39.50 and Impala (IMP) was 0.30% softer at R160.51‚ following a sharp fall on Thursday after reporting a 78% fall in headline earnings for the interim period to end-December due to lower production after labour woes.
