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JSE treads water as market awaits domestic data

Johannesburg - Share prices drifted mostly sideways on Monday, with no news which could have an influence on market sentiment.

At mid-morning the major indices were barely in the red, with very little movement in the share prices of the major shares. Gold and resources shares were however lower due to a stronger rand, as the dollar remains subdued on signs US inflation is likely to remain low.

Analysts said political uncertainty has eased and local economic fundamentals came back in focus, with the rand playing a bigger role.

The market is however waiting for a spate of domestic economic data this week. This includes employment numbers for the first quarter on Tuesday, producer price index inflation figures for May on Thursday, money supply and credit extension growth for May on Thursday, and monthly trade balance figures for May on Friday.

Traders will also keep an eye on the ANC policy conference which starts this weekend.

By mid-morning the All-share index was only 0.24% lower at 51 380 points and the Top 40 index traded 0.30% down at 45 221 points.

The Financial index was at that stage 0.14% higher, but the dual-listed shares in the Industrial and Resources indices were mostly negatively affected by the stronger local unit as they earn less in rand from foreign activities. The Industrial index lost 0.29% and the Resources index was 0.62% softer.

The rand was trading 0.59% stronger at R12.88, backed by continued buying of local bonds by foreign investors seeking higher yields. Signs that price rises in the US remained stubbornly subdued, which implied that US interest rates might not rise again his year, also put pressure on the greenback.

Naspers [JSE:NPN], by far the biggest share on the JSE, traded 0.43% up to R2 650.00. The share price gained 2.60% in Friday on strong results for the year to end-March. Headline and core headline earnings for the year increased by 41% and 10% respectively in US dollar terms, and as a result earnings per share and fully diluted earnings per share rose by 185% and 189% respectively.

Richemont [JSE:CFR] was however 0.87% softer at R106.60 and Mondi [JSE:MNP] lost 0.79% to R335.70. Steinhoff [JSE:SHF] also lost 0.67% to R65.33. Sasol [JSE:SOL] was in the black, but only 0.11% stronger at R361.00.

Standard Bank [JSE:SBK] made a strong run among the banks and traded 2.32% higher at R143.61, and Barclays Africa [JSE:BGA] gained 1.30% to R146.13. FirstRand [JSE:FSR] was however only 0.25% higher at R48.80. Old Mutual [JSE:OML] lost 0.58% to R32.61.

Retail giant Woolworths [JSE:WHL] was one of the busiest shares on the JSE with more than 3.2 million shares traded for more than R216m, but it lost 0.06% to R62.85. Last week the share traded at a 52-week low of R61.67, after reaching a 52-week high of R94.10 in August last year.

Exxaro [JSE:EXX] was by far the busiest share in the resources sector but gained only 0.34% to R86.70. The share was almost 10% lower over the previous seven days and 21.5% over the past 90 days. Kumba [JSE:KIO] was 3.4% stronger at R150.97 and ArcelorMittal [JSE:ACL] gained 3.32% to R150.97.

The softer dollar hurt the prices of precious metals, with gold dropping more than 1% and platinum more than 1.5%. The Gold index lost 3.49% in response. Sibanye Gold [JSE:SGL] dropped 2.78% to R15.75 and Impala Platinum [JSE:IMP] lost 1.30% to R35.40.

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Rand - Dollar
18.90
+0.2%
Rand - Pound
23.86
+0.2%
Rand - Euro
20.36
+0.3%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.31
+0.3%
Rand - Yen
0.12
+0.2%
Platinum
908.05
0.0%
Palladium
1,014.94
0.0%
Gold
2,232.75
-0.0%
Silver
24.95
-0.1%
Brent Crude
87.00
+1.8%
Top 40
68,346
0.0%
All Share
74,536
0.0%
Resource 10
57,251
0.0%
Industrial 25
103,936
0.0%
Financial 15
16,502
0.0%
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