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Gold's 'worst week in history' yields a ... |
Gold's 'worst week in history' yields a net gain of 13 pointsIN SPITE of its being "the worst week in SA's gold-mining history", the JSE All Gold index actually added 13 points to 965 after a 17-point rally on Friday. Fund managers are thinking of creeping back into the yellow metal and its equity, but preferably with somebody else's money: a case of you first. Gold closed the previous week at $325/oz and shed as much as $9 before edging back to the $320 level by Friday. The JSE took the imaginative step of renaming the Overall index the All Share index without touching its composition; the index shed 20 points overall to 7 348 on concerns about the repercussions of weak gold on the economy. Iscor had already announced it was negotiating the future of its loss-making Pretoria works; it shed 13c to 287c. Yet in the same sector, Consolidated Metallurgical Industries was surprisingly strong, adding 9% to R13.85 in spite of low expectations for the ferrochrome price. Chromecorp shed 14c to 900c. Pockets of the JSE flourished: as usual, financials picked up. Liberty Life put on R10 to R140 and Libhold R25 to R363 on foreign purchasing. The group's international roadshow is going down well - although local investors say Liberty is telling more to the overseas audiences than was imparted locally. There was strong foreign buying of Coronation, which announced a R1.3-billion rights offer of N scrip at R73.75. On big volume, Coro N put on 4% to R90 and the ordinaries 12% to R102. Intrust added 50c to 950c, and Baobab leapt another 10% to R62 on announcing a deal with Theta Securities and giving itself a more tangible p:e ratio. There was exceptional volume in Ellerine, also on foreign interest. It added 205c to R35.85. Profurn lost 3c to 195c on profit-taking: talk is that it is looking at OK Bazaars' furniture business. Media shares made news. Publico added 35c to 435c, no sellers. Sasani and Primedia both appear to be bidding for Interleisure; both shares' prices came under pressure as investors worried about their paying too much. Sasani fell to as low as 79c then clawed back to 94c for a net 4c rise, but Primedia, which paid handsomely for Highveld Stereo, shed 12% to R26.70 before rallying to R28.40. Interest in Interleisure and a 15c rise in Teljoy to 565c helped holding company Servgro add 50c to 900c; Servgro is in phase two of its unbundling. Scrapped talks between packagers Kohler and Lenco sent both shares sharply lower. Solchem - now a cash shell worth 130c - put on another 40c to 250c on hopes that something worthwhile will be introduced. New owners intend to introduce new assets into Multisource, which hit the stratosphere: from 210c in May, it hit R18 this week, closing at R17. Multisource shareholder Sasfin rose 20% to R16. M-Cell firmed 70c to 650c on good volume. Murray & Roberts dropped to as low as 900c before picking up a net 80c to R10.
JULIE WALKER
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