US housing data sees JSE lose earlier gains

THE JSE closed flat yesterday‚ relinquishing earlier gains that pushed the market to a new intra-day record‚ as poor US housing data weighed on global markets.

At 5pm‚ the all-share index was flat (0.01%) at 48 647.62 points‚ while the blue chip top-40 index edged 0.14% lower.

The gold mining index bucked the generally negative tone on the market‚ with the index jumping 2.23%‚ after being the only sector to close in the red on Tuesday.

Platinum shares posted the biggest losses‚ dropping 1.52% as wage talks between the chief executives of Anglo Platinum‚ Impala and Lonmin with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union continued for the second day with no resolution yet to end the three-month strike in the sector.

A delayed start to the trading session due to technical glitches saw the JSE open at 10am, not 9am, yes- terday. But this failed to deter investors whose buying momentum for listed shares pushed the equity market into fresh record territory.

The all-share index climbed as far as 48 909.82 during the session despite data out of Asia showing China’s manufacturing sector remained in contraction. The HSBC purchasing managers index showed China’s manufacturing sector came in at 48.3 points in April from 48 in March. A reading above 50 signals expansion.

But the local market retreated from its earlier highs at around 3.30pm when US markets opened. The pullback‚ which was in line with global markets‚ was due to a dive in US new home sales for March‚ according to Sasfin Securities assistant portfolio manager Kyle Burgess‚ as it painted a weak picture of the recovery in the US market.

At 5.28pm SA time‚ the Dow Jones industrial average had slipped 0.15% with London’s FTSE 100 also dipping 0.16%.

New home sales declined by 14.5% to an annual rate of 384 000 last month‚ official data showed.

Market participants had expected a rise of 2.3% to a rate of 450 000‚ according to Dow Jones Newswires.

This is the second consecutive month the new home sales market registered slower growth. – BDlive