Johannesburg- The JSE ended slightly higher on
Tuesday held up by resource and commodity counters, with a local trader
saying the bourse was being supported by foreign buying.
At 17:00 the JSE all share index had collected 0.52%, with resources
adding 0.98%. Platinum producers firmed 1.48% and gold miners were flat, up
0.10%.
Banks weakened 0.61% and financials eased 0.11%, while industrials
collected 0.33%.
The rand was bid at 7.45 to the dollar, from 7.33 when the JSE closed on
Monday. Gold was quoted at $1 132.75 a troy ounce from $1 132.85/oz at
the JSE's last close, and platinum was at $1 442/oz, from $1 448.50/oz
at its previous close.
"We ended slightly higher to day. A lot of foreign money is flowing into
the bigger companies. There is a lot of foreign money buying into the
traditional big five shares on the market," the trader said.
"The rand has weakened since this morning and that must be supporting
the market to a certain extent," he said.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that US stocks were trading near the
flatline on Tuesday, as commodities slid, the dollar rose, and US industrial
production came in weaker than expected, but US wholesale prices had a
smaller-than-expected rise.
The Djia was recently off 6 points at 10 401, retreating from the new
high for the year it hit on Monday. Home Depot was its biggest decliner, off
2.7% recently. Although the home-improvement retailer posted a smaller-than-
expected decline in fiscal third-quarter profit, its implied guidance for
the fourth quarter came in below analysts' forecast, and its sales at
comparable stores decelerated from the second quarter. Bank of America and
Alcoa were also down more than 1%. The declines were held in check by
Microsoft, which climbed 1.1%.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite slid 0.1%. The Standard & Poor's
500 was down 0.2%, led by its consumer discretionary and materials sectors.
The materials sector's decline came as metals futures slid. Crude oil
futures also fell, hurting the energy sector.
Meanwhile, the dollar gained against the euro and the yen, although
Treasuries slipped. The 10-year note was recently down 6/32 to yield 3.371%.
The action came as the Federal Reserve said industrial production last
month rose 0.1%, smaller than the 0.3% increase Wall Street had expected.
However, the disappointing industrial-production data was offset by a
smaller-than-expected rise in US wholesale prices, which is expected to give
the Federal Reserve continued ammunition in trying to support the economic
recovery by keeping interest rates at a record low close to zero.
When the local market closed, the Djia was flat, up 0.01%.
- I-Net Bridge