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JSE shrugs off fears of slump as Wall St... |
JSE shrugs off fears of slump as Wall Street bounces backTHE Johannesburg Stock Exchange ended the short week on a high note as it tracked Wall Street's recovery from its slump earlier in the week. On Monday, Wall Street lost 147 points, followed by a 19-point drop on Tuesday, dragging down most of the world bourses amid fears that the overheated US economy could force the US Federal Reserve to raise short-term interest rates to cool it off. However the market seems to have decided to ignore this, or may have already factored in a possible Fed rate hike as investors duly piled back into the US market. On Thursday the Dow industrials was 161 points firmer at 9 112, while the FTSE and other international markets had a solid day on the back of an overnight US rally. JSE industrials and gold were up while the financials were down, leaving the all share index 54 points up at 8 235. Gold continues to hang on for dear life. The yellow metal fixed in London at $310.70, leaving the all gold index 54 points higher at 1 075. Financials bucked the trend on the back of profit-taking, closing 64 points weaker at 13 919. Tigon, despite a 109% rise in earnings reported earlier in the week, lost 150c to R21. Other financials to lose include Stanbic (R13.60), Nedcor (20c), Liberty Life (280c) and First National Bank (30c). In the pharmaceutical and medical sector, Aukland and Medi-Clinic jumped 15c and 30c to 220c and 450c respectively after publishing a joint cautionary. Including last Friday's gains, Aukland has risen 83%, or 100c, this month alone. Industrials were up 22 points to 9 802. Johnnic, the subject of a battle for control between New Africa Investments and Worldwide Africa Investments, gained 50c to R73, while Nail, which called off merger talks with Johnnic, lost 30c. Its N shares were also 30c softer at 630c. Metlife and AMB, which also withdrew the cautionary relating to Johnnic, lost 15c and gained 500c respectively. Bellwether share Anglo American headed the highest-value-traded list with shares worth 140.5-million having changed hands. It closed R15.80 higher at R299 - a one-year high. The good news continued for new listings as Privest Group, the training, labour and education group, closed the week at 461c from an offer price of 100c. The share, whose public offer was 245.5 times oversubscribed, touched a high of 480c. Media group Maxtel eventually released its results, which turned out to be disastrous with turnover tumbling to R1.3-million to from R6.4-million. The share drifted 9c lower to 30c. Two profit warnings hit the market this week: Omega and Naspers. Omega was unchanged on the day at 395c, but has shed 205c this month alone. Naspers gained 5c on the day. Among the overheated IT stocks, Usko closed at 638c, Jasco was down 25c to 805c, while Elexir and ITI Technology both issued cautionaries. Thabo Kobokoane
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