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JSE ends softer as miners weigh

Johannesburg - South African equities closed lower on Friday as losses in mining stocks offset gains in the retail and financial sectors.

The gold index was the biggest loser on the day after good recent gains over the last couple of days.

At 17:00‚ the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index closed down 0.12% at 39 082.42 points‚ with the Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] blue-chip index down 0.17%.

The general retailers and financial indices garnered 0.54% and 0.30% respectively‚ while the gold and resource indices retreated 2.04% and 1.03% respectively. Platinums dipped 0.71%.

Leading European share markets were weaker in late trade‚ with London’s FTSE 100 0.40% softer at 16:47 local time.

“Gold miners have reversed quite a lot today despite the higher gold price‚” said Gary Booysen‚ trader at Vunani Private Clients.

“Our market turned slightly negative on the weaker than expected US GDP figure‚ but that didn’t have as much of an affect as it might have‚” he said.

US gross domestic product‚ a measure of all goods and services produced in the economy‚ advanced at a 2.5% annual rate between January and March‚ the US Commerce Department reported. That fell short of economists' forecast for a 3.2% increase‚ according to a Dow Jones Newswires survey.

On the other side of the ledger‚ the final reading of the Thomson Reuters/Univiversity of Michigan consumer sentiment index for April was revised up more than expected to 76.4 from a preliminary reading of 72.3‚ Dow Jones Newswires reported.

At 16:47 the Dow Industrial average was 0.11% firmer.

Among individual shares on the JSE‚ Anglo American (AGL) ended 1.20% lower at R227.25 and BHP Billiton (BIL) gave back 1.02% to R255.38.

Kumba Iron Ore (KIO) added 1.18% to R473.50.

Gold Fields (GFI) fared worst in the gold sector‚ shedding 3.26% to R67.85 and AngloGold Ashanti (ANG) was down 2.03% at R173.55‚ while Sibanye (SGL) bucked the trend adding 1.50% to R9.47.

Platinum counters Lonmin (LON) shed 2.94% to R39.60 and Northam Platinum (NHM) slipped 1.46% to R33.85.

IT group Altech (ALT) shed 3.50% to R31.94‚ while Altron (ATN) gained 2.56% to R20.

ConvergeNet Holdings (CVN) added 1c‚ or 5.88%‚ to 18c despite announcing an increase in its loss of 109% to R23.2m for the six months ended February 28.

Coronation Fund Managers (CML) ended the day 1.90% higher at R53.50 after saying on Friday it expected its earnings and headline earnings per share for the six months to March to be between 80% and 100% higher‚ from the same period in the previous year.

Merafe Resources (MRF) ended 2.82% firmer at 73c after it reported that ferrochrome production volumes in the first quarter of the year were 3% higher than those of the previous comparative period.

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Rand - Dollar
18.94
-0.2%
Rand - Pound
23.91
-0.0%
Rand - Euro
20.43
+0.2%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.34
+0.1%
Rand - Yen
0.13
-0.2%
Platinum
910.50
+1.5%
Palladium
1,016.25
+1.4%
Gold
2,220.77
+1.2%
Silver
24.87
+0.9%
Brent Crude
86.09
-0.2%
Top 40
68,346
+1.0%
All Share
74,536
+0.8%
Resource 10
57,251
+2.8%
Industrial 25
103,936
+0.6%
Financial 15
16,502
-0.1%
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