JSE down a tad at close

THE JSE closed marginally weaker on the continued uncertainty in the euro zone on Friday afternoon.

The local bourse slipped into negative territory at noon on Friday, giving up earlier gains, as the retreat in general mining shares weighed on the all-share index. The lingering European Union (EU) debt crisis deepened after the leaders of the 27-member EU ended their one-day meeting on Wednesday, apparently with no resolution to fixing the financial crisis or determining how to deal with the growing possibility that Greece could be forced to exit the euro zone.

Emerging markets including the JSE have been under pressure this month on the worries over Greece, particularly if parties opposed to further austerity measures gather more support in next month’s election.

At 5.02pm, the JSE all-share index was down 0,16% to 32 992,25 points, with the gold index losing 0,3%, platinum shares giving up 1,14% and resource counters retreating 0,7%. Financials slipped 0,06%, as banking stocks gave up 0,16%, while industrials added 0,14%. “The markets have been very volatile, driven by the uncertainty in Europe. As we head into the weekend, any news flow from the euro zone is likely to move the markets,” a local equities trader said.

US stocks opened lower on Friday as a negative turn in European markets put investors in a cautious mood ahead of consumer-sentiment data and the long holiday weekend, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

The news wires reported that gold futures prices ticked higher on Friday, as traders closed out bets on lower prices ahead of a holiday weekend in the US, with some more comfortable sticking to the sidelines to avoid losses should there be a new development in Europe’s debt crisis.

“With a US holiday on Monday, we expect a slow day in gold,” analysts with TD Securities said. “The absence of negative headlines from (Wednesday’s EU) summit has somewhat stabilised markets in the near term, although uncertainty prevails.”

On the JSE, Anglo American (AGL) was down R3,11, or 1,17%, to R261,89, BHP Billiton (BIL) lost 90c to R225,85 and Sasol (SOL) was down R2,42 to R353,58. Anglogold Ashanti (ANG) was down R1,90 to R300 ,while Gold Fields (GFI) added 4c to R110,10 and Harmony Gold Mining (HAR) shed 17c to R81,87. Impala Platinum (IMP) lost R1,50, or 1,11%, to R133,90 and Aquarius lost 30c, or 3,26%, to R8,90.

Pan Africa Resources (PAN) lost R1,97, or 2,03%, to R2,01.

Tongaat (TON) dropped R2,69, or 2,4%, to R109,31 and Tiger Brands (TBS) shed R6,30, or 2,49%, to R246,70.

In technology stocks, Datatec (DTC) lost 95c, or 2,12%, to R43,90.

South African futures ended slightly weaker on Friday, capping yet another volatile trading week. Near-dated futures shed just 0,42 points to 29 190 points. The total number of contracts that exchanged hands was 39 740, from 34 070 on Thursday. I-net Bridge