Money SA economy
South African stocks closed in negative territory on Thursday, tracking softer markets in the US and Europe.
By 5pm the JSE all share index gave up 0.63%, with resources down 1.10%. Gold miners were 1.47% lower and platinum miners were off 0.91%.
Banks declined 0.67%, financials eased 0.57% and industrials surrendered 0.17%.
Gold was quoted at $1,102.22 a troy ounce from $1,119.60/oz at the JSE's last close. Platinum was at $1,586/oz from $1,588.60/oz at the JSE's last close.
A local equities dealer said: "We saw a flat start, similar to yesterday, with global markets unsure about direction.
"The local bourse drifted into the positive in the early afternoon, but then retracted into negative territory tracking global markets, and amid a little bit of profit taking," he said.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that US stocks opened lower Thursday following a smaller-than-expected drop in weekly jobless and as concerns over tightening in China weighed.
Among US reports, the number of idled US workers applying for jobless benefits fell by 6,000 last week, a positive sign for the labour market and the economy, although the weekly decline was smaller than the 9,000 drop economists had expected.
However, there was an unexpected narrowing in the US trade gap. The Commerce Department reported the US deficit in international trade of goods and services decreased 6.6% to $37.29 billion in January, lower than Wall Street expectations for a $41.0 billion shortfall.
On the JSE, Anglo American declined 54 cents to R296 and BHP Billiton lost 362 cents or 1.46% to R243.88. Sasol eased R4.62 or 1.61% to R282.38.
