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Industrials‚ platinums weigh on JSE

Johannesburg – The JSE ended slightly lower on Monday‚ dragged down by platinum stocks and the broad sell-off in the retail sector following Shoprite Holdings’ trading update.

At 17:00‚ the All Share [JSE:J203] index was down 0.34% to 40 144.07 points‚ with the Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] index edging down 0.33% to 35 673.42‚ while the platinum and industrial indices shed 1.10% and 0.87%‚ respectively.

“Retailers‚ after being one of the top performing sectors in 2012‚ are‚ in the short term at least‚ feeling the pressure of stretched valuations which now trade above historical means albeit below historical highs. The Foschini Group and Woolworths were particularly hard hit in sector sympathy‚ posting intraday losses in excess of 5%‚” said Shaun Murison‚ market analyst at IG SA.

Leading European shares pared gains in late trade‚ with London’s FTSE 100 slipping 0.19% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was last seen down 0.13%.

Among individual shares on the JSE‚ Anglo American Platinum (AMS) was down 1.82% to R491.01 after the world’s largest platinum producer said its headline earnings per share in the year ended December 2012 were expected to decrease to a loss of between 491 cents and 628 cents‚ from a profit of 1‚365 cents a year ago.

Impala Platinum (IMP) was down 1.62% to R169.70 while ArcelorMittal SA (ACL) picked up 1.89% to R37.70.

Brewing giant SAB Miller (SAB) was down 1.11% to R408.15 and financial services group Abil (ABL) shed 2.54% to R31.48.

Shoprite (SHP) finished down 5.93% to R188 after the food retailer said its turnover in the six months to December grew 13.8% to R46.7bn.

“The general feeling in the market after Shoprite’s trading update is that other retail counters will not be able to sustain earnings at current valuations. Investors expected a 15% increase in turnover.

“The price-to-earnings ratio of these companies remains too high after having been pushed up largely by offshore investors‚” said Hennie Fourie‚ stockbroker at PSG Konsult in Pretoria.

The Foschini Group (TFG) shed 5.04% to R131.23‚ Woolworths (WHL) dropped 5.19% to R66.35 and Furniture retailer Lewis (LEW) lost 5.89% to R70.30.

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Rand - Dollar
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Rand - Pound
23.91
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Rand - Euro
20.43
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Rand - Aus dollar
12.34
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