The JSE saw a red opening on Thursday morning led by weaker resources and profit taking on gold stocks, after the gold price hit record levels yesterday. With a flurry of international economic data out later, markets are expected to be volatile, according to a local trader.

At 9.30am the JSE all share index had shed 0.70 percent, with resources wavering 1.29 percent, gold miners slipping 3.19 percent and platinum producers down 1.04 percent.

Banks were flat, down 0.18 percent, as were financials, down 0.03 percent, and industrials weakened 0.41 percent.

The rand was bid at 7.66 to the dollar from 7.67 when the JSE closed on Wednesday. Gold was quoted at $1085.35 a troy ounce from $1090.47 at the JSE's last close, and platinum was at $1355.50 an ounce, from $1364 at its previous close.

"Resources have come under a little bit of pressure this morning, with BHP Billiton 1.4 percent down in Australia. Gold stocks have also come off yesterday's levels, following a record gold price. We are seeing a bit of profit taking there," said a trader.

"There is a quite a lot of economic data out in Europe and in the US today, so markets are expected to be volatile," he added.

Dow Jones Newswire reported that European stocks are called to open lower on Thursday following the late sell off on Wall Street, as initial relief after the FOMC statement failed to hold, said Cameron Peacock at IG Markets.

He called London's FTSE 100 down 38 points at 5,070. He added that with ECB and BOE rate verdicts due, as well as the UK announcement on quantitative easing, "the potential for further volatility in the short term certainly cannot be overlooked".

On the economic calendar, eurozone retail sales are at 10:00 GMT, BOE rate decision and ECB rate decision are at 12:00 GMT and 12:45 GMT, respectively. US, jobless claims and non-farm productivity are at 13:30 GMT.

On the JSE, Anglo American plc shed 3.80 rand, or 1.29 percent, to 289.70 rand and BHP Billiton edged down 1.97 rand, to 211.03 rand.

Petrochemicals group Sasol fell 74 cents to 290 rand.

AngloGold Ashanti declined 10.28 rand, or 3.26 percent, to 304.98 rand, Gold Fields was 3.74 rand, or 3.48 percent, lighter to 103.76 rand and Harmony subsided 2.25 rand, or 2.74 percent, to 79.75 rand.

Platinum miner Anglo Platinum slipped 8.26 rand, or 1.21 percent, to 675 rand, Impala Platinum shed 1.50 rand to 171.50 rand and Lonmin depreciated 3.99 rand, or 2.05 percent, to 191.11 rand.

In diversified miners, African Rainbow moved 1.90 rand, or 1.23 percent, lower to 152.10 rand.

Elsewhere on the JSE, cement manufacturer Pretoria Portland Cement weakened 80 cents, or 2.46 percent, to 31.70 rand.

Electrics group Reunert gained 2.50 rand, or 5.05 percent, to 52 rand.

Among banks, Nedbank profited 36 cents to 113.91 rand. The group advised that Diluted headline earnings per share and diluted earnings per share for 2009 are currently expected to be between 25 percent and 35 percent lower than the 1401 cents per share and 1558 cents per share respectively reported for the comparative period to December 2008.

In a trading update for the third quarter, the group said that the economic environment is likely to remain weak for the balance of the year.

RMB Holdings weakened 29 cents, or 1.06 percent, to 27.16 rand, but Old Mutual gathered 5 cents to 13.73 rand.

The international long-term savings group earlier reported what it called a good sales performance by its long-term savings division for the third quarter.

Sales showed a significant improvement on the first half of the year as the demand for equity-based investments returned, it said.

"Life sales were down 4 percent to GBP326 million compared to Q3 2008. Excluding the US business, where the sales decline was in line with our strategic plan, sales were broadly flat," the group said.

Old Mutual South Africa, including the rest of Africa, delivered third quarter life sales at a similar level to last year, an encouraging result given South Africa's late entry into recession, and strong growth in unit trust sales, up an impressive 53 percent due to strong money market inflows.

Unit trust as a whole in the group were up 47 percent to GBP1.7 billion.

Retailer JD Group fell 69 cents, or 1.70 percent, to 39.80 rand.

Construction group Murray &Roberts lost 70 cents, or 1.25 percent, to 55.30 rand.

Do you think iafrica.com is an awesome website? More importantly, do you want to win a five-day holiday for two in Mombasa? If so, vote for iafrica.com in Bizcommunity's The People's Choice award and stand a chance of winning this fabulous prize. To vote, sms 'WEB j' to 34419. Smses cost R2.