JSE firmer as traders await congressional testimony from Yellen

Market focus will shift later in the day to Ms Yellen’s delivery of her semiannual monetary report to the US Congress.

Meanwhile in the East‚ Japanese equities fell to their weakest level since October 2014 due to risk aversion.

With most North Asian markets still closed‚ equities traded with a weaker bias‚ with the Nikkei average falling 3.8% during trading hours and closing 2.31% weaker.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed flat overnight.

The price of Brent oil fell $2 overnight and the dollar continued its decline. Brent was‚ however‚ firmer in morning trade‚ adding 1.24% to $31.08.

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At 9.38am‚ the all share was firmer‚ up 0.68% at 48‚672.10 points and the blue-chip top 40 added 0.82%.

Industrials led the gainers‚ adding 0.85%‚ while gold miners fell 2.25% and platinums were down 1.04% amid a softer platinum price.

Barclays Research analysts said they expected Ms Yellen’s tone to remain generally optimistic about the near-to medium-term outlook for the US economy‚ tempered by a note of caution due to financial market movements and risks from abroad.

The analysts suspected that Ms Yellen had yet to establish a firm view on the likelihood of a rate increase at the March meeting.

Ms Yellen would leave the door open for March without providing a strong signal in either direction‚ the analysts said.

This week’s calendar is relatively light. US retail sales and consumer confidence and eurozone fourth-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) are the highlights. There were also central bank decisions from Sweden‚ the Philippines‚ Chile and Peru‚ the analysts said.

Among individual mining shares on the JSE‚ Anglo American dipped 0.26% to R80.40 and rival BHP Billiton gained 1.16% to R157.17. Glencore added 2.96% to R22.60 after tumbling more than 6% on Tuesday.

Sasol was up 0.84% at R413.06 after the price of Brent crude lifted again.

Harmony Gold fell 3.92% to R39.20 and platinum player Northam Platinum was down 2.9% at R36.50.

Sappi dipped 0.45% to R66.70 after reporting on Wednesday morning that operating profit for the first quarter to December 31 2015 surged 51% to $112m compared with the year-earlier period.

- TMG Digital/BDlive