[2008-09-02]  JSE ends 3% weaker as miners slump
SOUTH African stocks ended sharply weaker yesterday, weighed by miners on sliding metal prices, but traders said the session was relatively quiet due to the Labour Day holiday in the US.

“Mining stocks are under severe pressure because of falling commodity prices. Gold has come off quite lot in line with losses in crude oil,” a local trader said.

The all share index ended 3,05% weaker, weighed by a 5,46% drop in resources, a 6,03% decline in gold miners and a fall of 6,.42% in platinum miners.

Banks edged down 0,16%, financials surrendered 0,34% and industrials were down 1,20%.

Meanwhile, investors in Johannesburg also digested another set of earnings reports from blue chip stocks Bidvest (BVT), African Rainbow Minerals (ARI, ARM) and Wilson Bayly Holmes-Ovcon (WBO, WBHO)

Shares in Bidvest ended down R1,80, or 1,58%, to R112,20. Also in news, ARM fell R22,90, or 8,81%, to R237,10. Construction group WBHO bucked the weaker tone on the local bourse and the heavy construction index, after more than doubling its year-end earnings and beating analysts’ forecasts. Shares in WBHO ended R6,50, or 4,74%, to R143,50.

Elsewhere on the JSE, resource giant Anglo American (AGL) was off R18,95, or 4,65%, to R388,99 and

BHP Billiton (BIL) lost R13,14, or 5,49%, to R226,14. Sasol (SOL) was down R24,43, or 5,75%, to R400,52.

Among gold miners, AngloGold Ashanti (ANG) weakened R10,50, or 5,04%, to R198, Gold Fields (GFI) plummeted R5,40, or 7,61%, to R65,60 and Harmony (HAR) retreated 489c, or 7,24%, to R62,61.

Platinum miner Anglo Platinum (AMS) was down R69, or 7,08%, to R905 and Impala Platinum (IMP) lost R13,95, or 6,40%, to R204.

Retailer Mr Price (MPC) shed 19c to R22. Banking group FirstRand (FSR) was up 8c to R16,50.

South African near-dated futures closed lower yesterday, weighed by the sharp decline in commodity and resource stocks. “The whole market was down today and it was driven mainly by the weakening of commodities and resources,” a trader said. The near-dated Alsi contract lost 776 points, or 3,04%, to 24769.

“We didn’t expect the market to end so low. Traders were preempting the dollar to strengthen, and that it why commodities were hit so hard,” the trader said.

A total of 36677 Alsi contracts changed hands compared with 33288 on Friday, a Safex official said. US markets were closed for the Labour Day holiday.

South African white maize futures ended sharply firmer yesterday, ignoring the US holiday and with the high levels surprising traders. “It’s quite surprising that our markets ended so high, given the US holiday and no overnight trade,” a grains trader said. The December white maize contract was up R37 to R1993 a ton, March gained R37 to R2072 and September maize, which is in delivery, jumped R38 to R1906. “We were expecting the market to trade between R1950 and R1970 on December,” he said. He said traders were expecting the US overnight trade to be very high tonight, given the threat of tropical storm Gustav, which could push up prices.

Dow Jones Newswires reported that Chicago Board of Trade maize futures ended slightly lower on Friday amid cautious trade ahead of a long, uncertain weekend. The market was higher on short covering for much of the day, but an analyst said traders decided late there was more risk on the upside than the downside.

Crude oil, which trimmed earlier gains on Friday, was also a factor in the late drop, the analyst said. Traders said the track of Gustav, which is expected to strike the US Gulf coast early this week, created uncertainty about both crude oil and agriculture headed into the holiday weekend. Maize’s failure to break above $6 was technically bearish, an analyst said. September maize ended down 1¾c to $5,68 a bushel, December maize 2¾c to $5,85, and March maize down 2¾c to $6,04.
Source: Copyright © 2005 BDFM Publishers (Pty) Ltd.