The JSE was flat on Monday morning, lacking direction on the back of slightly weaker Asian stocks with markets eyeing company earnings out of the US this week for possible direction.

Japanese and US markets are both closed today for holidays.

At 9.27am the JSE all share index was flat, down 0.05 percent, with resources easing 0.16 percent and gold miners weakening 0.50 percent, but platinums were flat, up 0.07 percent.

Banks were down 0.23 percent while financials and industrials were flat, up 0.02 percent and 0.07 percent respectively.

The rand was bid at 7.45 to the dollar from 7.36 just before the JSE closed on Friday. Gold was quoted at $1048.23 a troy ounce from $1050.30 at the JSE's last close, and platinum was at $1333.50 an ounce from $1332 at its previous close.

"We are flat this morning. We opened up in the black, but then turned negative. Eastern markets were mixed, and with the Japanese markets closed we are not getting much direction," an equities trader said.

"Markets are not getting direction ahead of some important earnings in the US this week. The results we have had this far have been better than expected, but market expectations are still very high, and anything that comes out in line with what the market expected will probably see more profit taking form Friday.

"For the week, it will be all about world markets and company results," he said.

Dow Jones Newswires reports that US stocks were higher on Friday, led by International Business Machines and a rallying tech sector, closing out a week in which Alcoa and others fuelled increasing optimism surrounding third-quarter earnings reports and pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a new closing high for 2009.

On the two-year anniversary of its all-time closing high, the Dow closed Friday up 78.07 points, or 0.8 percent, at 9864.94. The index tacked on 377.27 points, or 3.98 percent, for the week, snapping a string of two weekly losses and pushing to its highest close since October 6, 2008. At the forefront of its Friday gains was IBM, up 3.64, or 3 percent, to 125.93, after a Barclays analyst offered bullish comments on Big Blue. Further solidifying broad technology sector gains, Intel (Nasdaq) climbed 29 cents, or 1.5 percent, to 20.17, and Advanced Micro Devices rose 37 cents, or 6.7 percent, to 5.88.

All three companies will be posting earnings reports next week as the third-quarter season kicks into high gear. In the period's first heavily watched report, Alcoa surprised Wall Street with a third-quarter profit. For the week, Alcoa increased 11 percent, although it pared some of those gains with a drop of 11 cents, or 0.8 percent, to 14.24 on Friday.

Still, the broad sentiment surrounding third-quarter reports has so far been optimistic. Even with the Standard & Poor's 500 up nearly 60 percent in the past seven months, broad buying remains a market staple, money managers say.

Asian stock markets are tipping mostly lower on Monday as investors remained cautious before a string of US earnings reports this week. South Korean technology stocks are higher, tracking gains in US tech heavyweights on Friday.

Japanese markets were closed for holiday, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was last down 0.1 percent.

European stock markets are likely to open marginally higher as investors wait for more corporate earnings and economic data to justify current valuations and perhaps even more gains.

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