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Johannesburg – The JSE was flat at noon‚ off the intraday all-time high reached earlier in the morning‚ with gold miners providing a boost‚ while platinums weighed.
At 12:41‚ the All Share [JSE:J203] index was flat (-0.06%) at 40 255.04 points‚ while platinum stocks lost 1.47% and gold miners gained 1.30%.
“The Anglo American Platinum trading statement this morning was disappointing due to the strikes last year. Shoprite also came out with a worse-than-expected trading statement indicating that consumers are under pressure‚ and the JSE is reacting negatively to this news‚” said Cassie Treurnicht‚ research analyst at Gryphon Asset Management in Cape Town.
“All local miners will release trading updates in the next month or so‚ and traders and investors will be keeping an eye on that‚” he said.
Rand Merchant Bank said in a note that the global environment remained quite supportive as the start of the year had seen a sharp rotation into risk assets.
“Inflows into emerging market debt remain excellent‚ while those into SA have been inconsistent‚ with large inflows on one day followed by large outflows the next‚” the bank said.
On the JSE AngloGold Ashanti (ANG) lifted 1.81% to R257.45‚ while Anglo American Platinum (AMS) shed 2.08% to R489.69‚ 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.
Shoprite (SHP) shed 3.65% to R192.55 after the disappointing trading statement‚ with Spar (SPP) giving back 2.21% to R124‚ with general weakness seen in the retail space due to consumers having less money to spend.
