JOHANNESBURG. — The JSE slipped across the board at the start of trading yesterday, with platinum and banking stocks leading the fall, as market players looked to the two-day European Union summit, starting yesterday.

At 9.24am local time, the JSE all-share index was down 0,36 percent at 33 625,22 points, with resources losing 0,22 percent, gold shares dipping 0,26 percent and platinum counters dropping 1,19 percent.
Financials lost 0,59 percent, banking stocks were down 1,17 percent and industrials were 0,36 percent in the red.

The rand was trading at R8,39 to the dollar, unchanged from the JSE’s close on Wednesday, while gold was quoted at US$1574,10 a troy ounce from US$1571,46/oz at the JSE’s previous close.

Platinum was at US$1414,20/oz, from US$1410,50/oz previously.
“As we head to the end of the second quarter, you are also likely to see the guys adjusting their portfolios, which reflects in the share price movements. But Europe is the centre of investor attention,” said Ferdi Heyneke, portfolio manager at Afrifocus Securities.

European stocks opened a  little higher, supported by a positive US session, but investors are likely to be reluctant to make any bold moves ahead of the two-               day EU summit beginning yesterday.

Given the history of disappointing EU summits, and with German Chancellor Angela Merkel maintaining her staunch opposition to the idea of jointly guaranteed eurozone bonds, expectations for the summit are low, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

London’s FTSE was relatively flat at 5529,59 points.

In Asia, stocks were mixed ahead of the euro summit, with Japan’s Nikkei ending the session 1,65 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 0,24 percent by 9.24am South African time. — BusinessDay.