Johannesburg - The JSE was trading in negative territory on Friday morning‚ as miners continued to weigh‚ with all the main indices in the red amid further profit taking and consolidation in the market after Wednesday’s rally.
At 9:55‚ the All Share [JSE:J203] index was trading 0.35% lower at 38 972.04 points.
The platinum and gold indices fared worst‚ giving back 1.16% and 1.04% respectively‚ followed by banks down 0.96%.
At 9:39 London’s FTSE 100 was down 0.38%.
There are no top-tier UK economic data on the schedule on Friday‚ Dow Jones Newswires reported. US retail sales and PPI are expected later on Friday. Also‚ earnings season for the US banking sector kicks off on Friday with both JPMorgan and Wells Fargo reporting. Investors will also be watching closely for comments from today's Eurogroup meeting.
In the east‚ Japanese stocks closed 0.47% lower and the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index was 0.15% softer shortly before its close.
The next batch of Chinese economic data‚ growth numbers for the first quarter of the year‚ is expected on Monday‚ which will provide an insight into the health of Asia's largest economy.
On the JSE‚ Impala Platinum (IMP) was down 1.89% to R124.80‚ while among gold shares Harmony (HAR) dropped 3.06% to R53.15 and Gold Fields (GFI) gave back 1.56% to R63.81.
Kumba Iron Ore (KIO) gave up 1.08% to R457 and Exxaro (EXX) relinquished 1.44% to R152.61.
Alert Steel (AET) jumped 9.09% to R1.20 after suffering heavy losses on Thursday after it entered into an agreement to issue 48-million shares to Cannistraro at 200c per share to raise R96m. The cash raised would be used to redeem debt.
In banking Nedbank (NED) was down 1.61% to R185.91 and Absa was off 1.78% to R154.21.
Among retailers Woolies (WHL) fared worst down 1.57% to R68.50.
Cement producer PPC (PPC) added to its recent good run‚ up 2.28% at R35.03.
Pharmaceutical giant Aspen (APN) was down 1.32% to R188.50.