JSE slightly up on rand weakness

THE JSE share market ended higher yesterday‚ underpinned by the resources and industrial sectors which benefited from the rand weakness.

Positive risk sentiment linked to the approval of the eurozone bailout fund by the German Constitutional Court appeared to have lost steam in late trade‚ with some leading European markets turning lower‚ while US stocks were flat.

Traders attributed the pullback to some caution ahead of the US Federal Reserve policy meeting today. At 5pm‚ the JSE all-share index was up 0.82% to 35 736.41 points‚ with resources gaining 0.89% and industrials lifting 0.91%‚ while the platinum index dropped 1.12%.

“The rand weakness points to the possibility that market players‚ in particular foreigners‚ were liquidating their positions in some South African equities or bonds, even though we finished positive on the all-share index‚” Nedbank Capital market watcher Ian Cruickshanks said.

Among individual shares on the JSE‚ BHP Billiton lifted 2.85% to R257.70‚ but Anglo American Platinum shed 4.05% to R417.50‚ Lonmin lost 4.05% to R77.14‚ while Aquarius Platinum lifted 5.88% to R5.40.

Harmony Gold Mining shed 2.72% to R68.65‚ while Exxaro climbed 2.32% to R164.

Among industrial shares‚ SABMiller gained 2.24% to R364.

Vodacom lifted 1.32% to R108.10‚ and Investec plc rallied 3.80% to R52.94.

Construction group Group Five garnered 3.54% to R27.49 but retailer The Foschini Group lost 2.20% to R124.50.

European stocks touched a 14-month high and yields on Spanish and Italian debt fell after the German court decision.

The decline in Spanish bond yields to well below 6% prompted Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to say improved market conditions might make aid unnecessary.

The MSCI global share index, up 6.5% since the end of July, hit a five-month high of 332.42 points before dipping back a bit as profit-taking set in.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.25% at 13 356.84. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up 0.23% at 1 436.90 and the Nasdaq Composite Index was up 0.10% at 3 107.57.

The news from Europe removed some need for safe haven investments, leading US Treasuries and German bunds prices to fall. The benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell 15/32 in price and its yield rose to 1.75% from 1.71% on Tuesday. – I-Net Bridge, Reuters