The JSE opened weaker on Wednesday ahead of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s medium-term budget policy statement as a softer close in the Dow on Tuesday dampened sentiment. The firmer rand capped gains among the global miners, but gold and platinum shares were up on firmer commodity prices. Rand hedges were also under pressure. Gold was up 0.13% to $1,275.38/oz and platinum added 0.97% to $968.79 in early trading. At 9.30am the all share was down 0.76% at 51,354.60 points and the blue-chip top 40 shed 0.91%. Resources were down 1.27%, industrials 0.83% and banks 0.28%, while platinums added 0.63% and the gold index 0.42%. The Dow closed 0.30% weaker on Tuesday on disappointing results from Apple as revenue projections missed estimates. Apple was down 3% at one stage, but closed 0.51% up as phone sales increased over the quarter. Asian markets were mixed on Wednesday morning, with the Nikkei 225 up 0.14% and the Hang Seng down 0.93%. Oil prices failed to provide guidance, with Brent...
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