The JSE rallied in the afternoon session to end flat on Tuesday, as buyers scooped up battered stocks with the market at one stage having given up more than 500 points.

At its close, the JSE all share index had lost 0.45 percent, led by gold miners, down 1.72 percent, followed by resources, off 0.91 percent.

Platinum stocks, however, added 0.56 percent, with banks flat, up 0.05 percent, while financials slipped 0.19 percent and industrials inched down 0.06 percent.

The rand was last bid at 8.22 to the dollar from 8.17 when the JSE closed on Monday. Gold was quoted at $918.70/oz a troy ounce from $921.20/oz at the JSE's last close, and platinum was at $1158/oz, from $1175.50/oz at its previous close.

A local trader said: "The JSE recovered nicely in the afternoon session, as buyers scooped up battered stocks. At one stage the index was 500 points down. Banks like Absa and First Rand staged a good turnaround late on, after taking a beating when they announced results earlier today.

"It is difficult to gauge where the market is heading, and all eyes will be on the US this evening, having reached a few key levels. It will be interesting to see if they can hold those levels, otherwise we might see some volatility in the local market in the next few days," the trader said.

Dow Jones Newswires reports that US stocks were narrowly mixed on Tuesday morning as investors mulled weaker-than-expected housing data and stayed on guard against ugly surprises from other big events on the horizon.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average hovered around 8,316. The benchmark was weighed down by a drop of more than 6 percent in shares of component Boeing, which said the first flight of its 787 Dreamliner aircraft had been postponed.

Other market indexes were also moving in a tight range. The S&P 500 slid 0.1 percent. The Nasdaq Composite Index was off 0.3 percent.

The market is coming off its worst single-day decline in two months, underscoring investors' increasing scepticism that the spring's sharp rally can resume while the global economy is still stuck in a stubborn recession.

The National Association of Realtors said sales of existing homes rose 2.4 percent in May compared to the previous month. The inventory of unsold homes declined 3.5 percent. But the increase in sales came up short of economists' expectations, and the report showed that the average sale price of existing homes fell 16.8 percent from a year earlier, the third-largest drop on record.

Investors are also looking ahead to the Treasury Department's auction of US$60-billion in two-year notes slated for Tuesday afternoon, as well as the outcome of the two-day Federal Reserve policy meeting. The central bank is expected to leave interest rates unchanged but traders will be looking for signs that the Fed is planning to roll back some of its steps to stimulate the economy and markets.

On the JSE, Anglo dropped 2.15 percent to 221.25 rand, BHP Billiton slid 90 cents to 179.10 rand and Sasol finished unchanged at 270 rand.

Impala Platinum added 2.58 percent to 160.03 rand but Angloplat gave up 2.82 percent to 516.99 rand, with Lonmin losing 1.68 percent to 152.50 rand.

Among gold miners, Gold Fields declined 63 cents to 93.36 rand, AngloGold Ashanti shed 1.66 percent to 284.20 rand and Harmony lost 3.85 percent to 81.25 rand.

Diversified miner Exxaro was down by 69 cents to 76.80 rand.

Kumba Iron Ore dropped 1.87 percent to 181.50 rand. Metal giant ArcelorMittal shifted 3.01 percent lower to 88.75 rand but African Rainbow advanced 1.56 percent to 127.05 rand. Paper group Sappi added 5.02 percent to 23.42 rand with Mondi up 6.29 percent to 31.95 rand.

Among industrials, SAB Miller was steady with a gain of 1.07 rand to 168.58 rand.

Cement group Pretoria Portland Cement gave up 2.15 percent to 28.16 rand.

Engineering group Murray & Roberts shed 2.67 percent to 47.40 rand, while Group Five eased 2.99 percent to 32.50 rand.

Diversified and specialist chemical services company Omnia fell 1.79 percent to 57.50 rand. Earlier, the group reported a 54 percent increase in headline earnings and earnings a share to 1114.2 cents and 1107.4 cents respectively for the year to end March 2009.

The company's net profit climbed 57 percent to R491-million and its revenue rose 51 percent to R11-billion in a year characterised by unprecedented market conditions.

Among retailers, Truworths dipped 3.04 percent lower to 35.40 rand, with Massmart losing 1.11 percent to 79.10 rand but Shoprite gained 3.58 percent to 54.90 rand.

Among banks, RMB Holdings shed 1.70 percent to 21.92 rand while FirstRand lost 11 cents to 13.29 rand.

FirstRand on Tuesday warned that the expected deterioration in the macro environment, both domestically and globally, had played out "even more negatively than the group anticipated".

As a result the group said it expects in headline earnings for the full year to end June to fall by between 28 percent and 33 percent from the 191.5 cents posted for the full year to end June 2008.

Absa Group picked up 1.30 rand, or 1.29 percent, to 102.20 rand, having earlier given up 1.90 rand. On Tuesday, the group advised that it expects its first half headline earnings to be between 15 percent and 25 percent lower than the same period last year.

The banking group cautioned that earnings per share for the six months to end June 2009 were likely to range between 25 percent and 35 percent lower for the same period in 2008.

Absa said trading conditions in the current weak economic environment "had become challenging" and that the financial performance of the group had been impacted by increasing impairment levels, a contraction of interest margins and a reduction in the value of investment portfolios.

Standard Bank increased 44 cents to 83.15 rand, but Nedbank lost 72 cents to 92.50 rand.

Among telecoms companies, Telkom dropped 15 cents to 35.10 rand. Yesterday the group saw headline earnings per share for the 12 months ended March decline by 45.9 percent to 557 cents.

Group operating revenue from continuing operations increased 6.9 percent to R35.9-billion, while operating profit decreased by 29.6 percent to R6.4-billion.

Vodacom gained 1.31 percent to 54.10 rand.

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