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Industrial index holds its own as gold f... |
Industrial index holds its own as gold fulfils its gloomy promiseAN UNINSPIRED showing from the gold mines was expected but the gold market nevertheless took a knock. The all-gold index shed a net 13 points to 1 235 as the metal was again weak. But central bank holdings of gold have barely moved in a decade - the current 28 170 tons is still 96% of the 1987 figure and net disposals remain proportionally trifling. JCI flagship Western Areas dropped 9% to R40 and sister company Randfontein Estates almost 5% to R17.10 after touching R16.70 following the posting of poor results by both mines. Randfontein was R36 a year ago and R58 in 1994. Randgold shed 160c to R32.90 despite Cons Mining's buying 16% of the company at R39. Cons Mining, controlled by the Kebble family, which is also a large investor in Randgold, issued shares at 80c, a discount to the market price of 87c. Cons Mining is still under a cautionary. There was big volume in the Rand Mines cash shell, which withdrew a cautionary and announced its winding up. More than 3.7-million shares traded on Thursday at between 60c and 40c. It closed at 42c, down by a third on the week. Impala announced it had not yet resolved its differences with the Bafokeng, but added 25c to R51.25. The JSE all-share index added 50 points to 7 072: Wall Street's mid-week strength helped but an absolute direction is not yet discernible. The Dow was "all over the show," said one dealer. The industrial index was lifted by 1% to 8 406 on a strong performance from selected industrials and banks. There was spectacular volume in Richemont - a fifth of the record one-day trade of R1.5-billion on Friday when 5.1-million shares worth R330-million changed hands. The bulk of the trade was in asset swaps. Richemont added 125c to R64.50 and is 11% up this month alone. Cullinan shed 2c to 94c: it announced it was to acquire Midmacor - once independently listed and part of the ill-fated KNJ group - and that businessman Simon Nash was to take over. Profurn, which repurchased its debtors' book for R270-million at a 36% discount, added 11c to 138c on a cautionary. Rebhold continued its great run, up another 10% to 855c. Banks were mixed. Stanbic jumped from R195 to R205 on big volume before retreating to R200.25, Nedcor picked up 3% to R88.75 and NBS 600c to R82. But Boland shed 100c to R52, NRB 5c to 390c and Absa 85c to R28.50. Worse than expected results knocked Waltons, but it firmed and closed unchanged at 620c. Didata shook off recent weakness and added 11% to R15.65 on talk of its winning big contracts amid visible disarray among competitors. In the same sector, Advtech climbed to 660c before closing 19% up at 590c. More than 6-million Educor traded late on Friday at 437c. The rand eased a shade on Friday but was generally stable around 445c to the dollar, and local bonds firmed on the back of US bonds. The yield on R150 moved from a high of 15.00% a week ago to 14.86%.
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