JSE dips on mining shares

The JSE was slightly weaker during its opening session, with gold and resource shares weighing on the all-share index, while banking stocks continued their strong run.

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The JSE was slightly weaker during its opening session on Friday, with gold and resource shares weighing on the all-share index, while banking stocks continued their strong run.

Ferdi Heyneke, portfolio manager at Afrifocus Securities, said mining shares, particularly the gold sector, continue to be volatile due to sector-specific problem areas.

“But on the whole, the focal point of investor attention will be on the US jobs report for April today,” he said.

At 09:19 local time, the JSE all-share index was down 0.13% to 34,331 points, with gold miners losing 0.90%, resources shedding 0.38%, while platinum counters edged up 0.13%.

Financials were up 0.21%, banking stocks lifted 0.40%, while industrials were fairly flat (-0.08%).

The rand was trading at 7.71 to the US dollar from 7.72 at the JSE's close on Thursday, while Gold was quoted at US$1,633.15 a troy ounce from US$1,635.31/oz at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was at $1,536.70/oz, from $1,539.50/oz at the previous session.

Asian stock markets were mostly lower on Friday in cautious trade ahead of the US payrolls data, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index losing 142.48 points, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

Markets in Japan were closed for a holiday.

European stocks started lower, with London's FTSE 100 down 24 points to 5,742.55 points at 9:04 local time.

In addition, many investors are still smarting after European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi confirmed that no changes to policy stance were discussed at the central bank's monthly meeting. Investors had been speculating that the ECB would look again at its firepower following another week of tensions in the eurozone, punctuated by disappointing economic data.

On the JSE, Anglo American (AGL) was down R2.60 to R293.99, but BHP Billiton (BIL) was up 22 cents to R249.40 and Sasol (SOL) lost R1.54 to R366.

AngloGold Ashanti (ANG) dipped R3, or 1.19%, to R255, Gold Fields (GFI) slipped 88 cents to R96.74, while Harmony (HAR) shaved off 14 cents to R72.70.

Anglo American Platinum (AMS) lifted R1.50 to R494.50 while Impala Platinum (IMP) gained 30 cents to R146.85.

In industrials, Remgro (REM) gained R1.25 to R134.35.

Among banking shares, Nedbank (NED) lifted R1.50 to R174.04. The financial services group reported a strong first quarter of 2012, with net interest income growing 11.5% to R4.774 billion compared with R4.283 billion in the first quarter of 2011, underpinned by steady growth in average interest-earning banking assets of 7.2%.

Absa (ASA) was up R1.62, or 1.01%, to R162.72.

Astral Foods (ARL) was down R4.17, or 3.34%, to R120.51. The poultry producer advised on Friday that a reasonable degree of certainty exists that its earnings and headline earnings per share for the six months ended March 2012 would both reflect a decrease of between 16% and 19% compared to the previous comparable period. - I-Net Bridge

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/jse-dips-on-mining-shares-1.1289218

Radio 1 Switzerland Mark Bright Eric Cantona Mikel Arteta Carlos Tevez