Picture: JSE
Picture: JSE

THE JSE was weaker at midday on Wednesday, in quiet trade ahead of the Easter holidays, due to some profit-taking after strong gains were made by the bourse earlier this month.

At 12.18pm the all share was down 1.03% to 52,844.10 points and the blue-chip top 40 index had shed 0.91%.

All the main indices were in negative territory, with gold and platinum miners leading the downside, losing 4.20% and 4.03% respectively after recent solid gains.

Meanwhile, global stocks were steady on Wednesday as the dollar gained and European stocks continued to recover in the wake of the Brussels bombings, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

European markets showed remarkable resilience in the face of Tuesday's bombing in Brussels. At midday most were firmer with the German Dax 30 up 0.99% and the Paris CAC 40 0.64% firmer. On Tuesday, the bombings in Brussels weakened the euro, while upbeat comments on the US economy from Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans helped lift the dollar, the newswire said.

Markets in Asia closed mainly weaker on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 ended 0.28% lower and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index ended down 0.25%, while shares in Australia fell 0.5% as commodity prices weakened. Brent crude was down 0.54% at $41.36 a barrel as traders waited for US stockpile data due later in the day.

Wednesday's moves followed a quiet session on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrial average snapped a seven-day winning streak in low-volume trade. The Dow closed 0.23% lower overnight. US futures pointed to a flat open on Wall Street later in the day.

Among individual shares on the JSE, Sasol was down 1.9% at R468.21 as oil prices declined.

Gold miner AngloGold Ashanti gave up 3.96% to R203.42 and Sibanye slumped 7.06% to R54.10.

Impala Platinum lost 6.15% to R45.50 as commodity prices declined.

Rand hedges were mainly stronger with Compagnie Richemont up 0.74% to R98.63. The company’s shares lost 4.49% on Tuesday, perhaps as a result of the Brussels bombings.

FirstRand fared worst in the banking sector, losing 4.09% to R45.99, while Nedbank was down 1.18% to R187.79.

Builder Basil Read added 4.29% to R3.65, while Group Five was down 0.36% to R22.19.

Weaker construction activity in the first quarter of this year saw tendering competition intensify‚ weighing on confidence‚ and the industry expects continued moderation this year and in 2017 on lower public sector spending and persistently weak growth in private sector capital expenditure‚ the FNB/BER Civil Confidence Index released on Wednesday showed.

Demand in the construction sector is one of the crucial indicators of economic growth as companies and the government tend to invest more on building and roads when the economy grows and less when it falls.