JSE ends flat but banks see wee recovery

(www.businessday.co.za) THE JSE ended virtually unchanged yesterday , but banks staged a slight recovery after the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), as widely expected, hiked rates by 50 basis points.

The all share index ended 0,05% higher. Resources gained 0,47%, the platinum mining index was up 2,49% but the gold mining index fell 0,72%.

Industrials lost 0,35%, financials weakened 0,08% but banks picked up 1,18%.

One trader said that SARB’s decision to hike rates by 50 basis was not considered as a nonevent because some investors may have been expecting a 100 basis point hike.

“Although SARB governor Tito Mboweni came across as hawkish, he mentioned that inflationary pressures took place against a backdrop of healthy economic growth,” the trader said.

The SARB’s monetary policy committee (MPC) yesterday decided to increase the repo rate to 9,5% in line with consensus expectations.

Banking group Absa was up 1,68% to R136,25, Standard Bank added 1,50% to R105, and FirstRand was up 1,10% to R23.

Boosted by solid gains in the platinum price during the session, miner Impala Platinum soared 4,47% to R234,01 and Anglo Platinum was up R5,50 to R1198. But Lonmin fell R4,52 to R533,99.

On the resources index Anglo American gave up R2,14 to R418,86, while BHP Billiton added 1,36% to R183,25. Synfuels producer Sasol fell R1,25 to R250.

Gold miners fell, tracing a slide in the bullion price, with AngloGold Ashanti slipping 1,18% to R297,50 and Gold Fields losing 1,01% to R117,75.

Heavyweight industrial group Barloworld added R1,50 to R198,50, brewer SABMiller was off 8c at R169,42, and consumer goods group Tiger Brands gained 70c to R180,20.

South African near-dated futures ended 88 points in the red after a topsy-turvy day yesterday characterised by general weakness on a 50 basis point rates increase and poorer US markets. The near-dated Alsi contract ended down 0,34% at 25625.

“It has been volatile as we were up slightly in the morning, but saw a relative sell-off towards the MPC decision,” a futures dealer said.

“There was a lack of direction and the market is not very strong. The Dow Jones and S&P are also not looking good,” the dealer said.

A Safex official said a total of 47198 Alsi contracts traded compared with 25685 on Wednesday.

South African white maize futures closed lower yesterday as traders followed in the footsteps of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) overnight.

“There has been little news, so we followed CBOT,” a Johannesburg-based trader said.

The trader said that it was difficult to tell the market’s next move, as it remained tied to movements on CBOT.

“It’s not easy to say where we will go from here, but we are looking at the harvesting progress for clues,” the trader said.

According to the latest harvest report by the South African Grain Information Service, farmers have already harvested 1,8-million tons of maize since the beginning of last month.

SA, the continent’s biggest maize producer, is set to produce 7,05-million tons of maize.

The benchmark July white maize contract fell R15 to R1745 a ton and December white maize was down R16 to R1835. July wheat gave up R19 to R2451 and December wheat was declined R21 to R2146.

Dow Jones newswires reported that CBOT maize futures settled lower yesterday, pressured by lower wheat and soybean values as corn continued its recent role as a follower of the other grains. I-Net Bridge

Investments on the Johannesburg stock exchange