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Retailers‚ industrials underpin JSE

Johannesburg - SA stocks recovered slightly from last week’s declines on Monday‚ as retailers and industrials led the market higher.

Gains in these sectors were‚ however‚ somewhat offset by a further slump in resources and gold miners‚ on global growth concerns.

At 17:00‚ the benchmark JSE All Share [JSE:J203] gauge closed 0.21% firmer at 38 582.95 points‚ buoyed by drug retailers‚ general retailers and industrials‚ adding 1.67%‚ 1.02% and 0.85% respectively. Resources gave back 1.06% and gold miners‚ after strong gains on Friday‚ ended 1.25% weaker.

The blue-chip Top 40 - (Tradeable) [JSE:J200] index edged up 0.19%.

“Retailers took a knock on Friday after US job numbers came out worse than expected‚ affecting world market negatively all around. Investors returned to the retailer space today after the selloff on Friday‚” said Sudheer Singh‚ market analyst at Sasfin Securities.

“Resource giant BHP Billiton was trading lower in London this morning as copper prices were lower and this filtered through to our markets. There is still uncertainty about global growth leading to lower commodity prices‚ which will in turn push resource counters lower‚” he said.

“Gold shares were slightly lower on Monday as market sentiment was a bit stronger‚ resulting in safe-haven investments such as bullion being a bit out of favour today‚” he said.

Major European markets gained as better-than-expected German data offset concerns over Portugal.

At 16:48 local time London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.44%.

Total German industrial output in February rose 0.5% on the month‚ topping expectations of a 0.4% gain‚ to suggest the eurozone’s largest economy may be bouncing back from a weak patch‚ Dow Jones Newswires reported.

Separately‚ Portuguese stocks slumped after Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho said he would look for fresh ways to keep its bailout programme on track‚ after a Constitutional Court ruling that some of the austerity measures aimed at public employees were discriminatory.

Meanwhile across the Atlantic‚ US stocks edged mostly lower at the open of trading on Monday‚ as investors hit pause ahead of the unofficial start of corporate earnings reporting season. At 16:48 the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.25%.

Also after the close‚ Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will give a speech at an Atlanta Federal Reserve Conference.

Investors have been and are constantly watching for hints on how long the central bank will keep its bond buying programme in place as it tries to boost the economic recovery.

On the local stocks front‚ BHP Billiton (BIL) closed 1.21% weaker at R258.85 and Sasol (SOL) lost 2.33% to R385.68.

Kumba Iron Ore (KIO) gave back 2.78% to R442.80 and Alert Steel (AET) shed 3.57% to R1.35.

Among gold stocks Harmony (HAR) dropped 3.36% to R54.30 and Gold Fields (GFI) dipped 1.83% to R64.22.

Barloworld (BAW) added 1.40% to R94.30 and luxury goods manufacturer Richemont (CFR) closed 1.41% firmer at R70.30.

Retailer Mr Price (MPC) added 2.62% to R116.50‚ Shoprite (SHP) gained 2.07% to R178.62‚ while Pick n Pay (PIK) bucked the trend slipping 1.27% to R41.10.

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