South African stocks mostly flat as gold rebounds

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African stocks ended mostly flat on Wednesday as gains by resource producers including Harmony Gold offset declines from a mixed bag of companies that reported disappointing earnings.

Agricultural services company Afgri was one of the biggest losers on the broad All-Share index, sliding nearly 6 percent to 4.80 rand after it warned full-year earnings would likely fall by as much as 40 percent.

The benchmark JSE Top-40 index gained 0.07 percent to 34,191.83 and the All-Share index rose 0.1 percent to 38,783.07.

"For shorter term traders, our gold shares look like they are offering good value at the moment, as long as the gold price continues to recover," said Greg Davies, an equities trader at Cratos Capital.

Investors were still skittish about the prospects for Africa's largest economy after state utility Eskom warned earlier this week it may have trouble keeping the lights on in the coming months.

A power crunch in 2008 shut mining firms and factories, costing the economy billions of dollars in lost output.

South Africa's No. 3 gold producer Harmony was the second-biggest gainer on the All-share index, rising nearly 5 percent to 44.97 rand. Bigger rival Gold Fields was up 4.2 percent at 64.50 rand.

Vodacom made its biggest one-day jump in five months, gaining 3.5 percent to 108.59 rand, after the mobile telephone operator said it expected full-year earnings to rise by as much as 25 percent.

Rival MTN, Africa's leading mobile operator, posted gains of nearly 2 percent to 165.04 rand.

Tech firm Allied Technologies was among the losers, falling 4.2 percent after it reported a 23 percent drop in full year profit.

Trading was robust with more than 200 million shares changing hands, according to preliminary bourse statistics. Decliners outpaced advancers 153 to 131.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-african-stocks-mostly-flat-gold-rebounds-160339377--finance.html

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