THE JSE ended in the red virtually across the board today amid weaker international markets, tracking Dow futures lower in particular. 

A local trader pointed out that even at its current levels, the rand could not keep commodities in the black.

 In late trade the JSE all share index weakened 0.56%, with resources losing 1.28%. Platinum miners eased 0.52% and gold producers gave up 2.10%.

Banks were down 0.60% and financials declined 0.36%, but industrials collected 0.17%.

The rand was bid at R7.53/$, from R7.43 when the JSE closed on Wednesday. Gold was quoted at US$1,136.35 a troy ounce from US$1,147.45 at the JSE's last close, and platinum was at US$1,432/oz, from US$1,437/oz at its previous close.

A local trader said: "We tracked international markets down this afternoon, with an eye on Dow futures in particular. Not even the rand at its current 7.50 level against the dollar can keep commodities in the black.

In a nutshell, weakness is across the board."

 Dow Jones Newswires reported that US stocks opened lower Thursday as an analyst downgrade weighed on a slate of chip companies and on economic worries ahead of some morning reports.

Early on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded down 112 points, or 1.1%, to 10316.

For much of a two-week run in the major stock market indexes, that pushed all three to new highs on the year, materials and energy companies have been at the forefront. Broadly, the gains stemmed from an upturn in global economic sentiment, as well as a slide in the dollar.

 On Thursday, some of that appeared to be waning with the US dollar index in the green, while oil prices and those of several metals slid. Oil recently traded down 64 cents to US$78.94 a barrel.

On the economic front, a weekly jobless claims figure that came in nearly as expected failed to offset some of the increased pessimism surrounding the world economy that was weighing on markets.

In its weekly report, the Labour Department said the number of US workers filing new claims for jobless benefits last week remained unchanged from the prior week, while total claims lasting more than one week declined.

 On tap for later in the session will be leading indicators for October and the November Philadelphia Fed survey, both due at 10 a.m., EST.

I-net bridge