The JSE ended flat on Wednesday held back by weaker US markets which opened lower on worse-than-expected housing starts data, an equities trader said.

At 5pm the JSE all share index was flat, down 0.13 percent, with resources weakening 0.38 percent. Platinum producers were off 0.81 percent while gold miners were flat, down 0.13 percent.

Banks were also flat, up 0.09 percent, financials eased 0.29 percent, while industrials edged up 0.23 percent.

The rand was bid at 7.43 to the dollar, from 7.45 when the JSE closed on Tuesday. Gold was quoted at $1147.45 a troy ounce from $1146.32/oz at the JSE's last close, and platinum was at $1455.50/oz, from $1454/oz at its previous close.

"We saw a flattish close. It was a volatile day. We saw our market stay positive until the housing starts figures came out in the US. After that we turned negative and then we moved positive a few minutes later," the trader said.

"The market is not sure which way to go. It looks like the momentum is going forward, all who missed the run now want to be part of it.

"The US has opened negative and that is on the back of the worse-than- expected housing starts. That market is holding us back.

"The rand is still very strong moving in a narrow band. The gold price is still very, very high, the dollar strengthened, but that didn't pull the gold price down," he said.

Dow Jones Newswires reported that US stocks opened lower on Wednesday as an unexpected decline in home construction and building permits in October damped consumer companies.

Shortly after the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded down 28 points, or 0.3 percent, to 10409. Going into Wednesday, the index had risen in nine of the past 10 sessions, closing at a new 2009 high on Tuesday. Leading the move lower on Wednesday, however, Walt Disney fell 0.8 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 dropped 0.2 percent to 1108, led by a 0.5 percent decline for consumer discretionaries. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 9 to 2195.

Setting off the move lower, building permits in October fell 4 percent to a 552 000 annual rate. Economists had expected permits to rise by 0.9 percent to a rate of 580 000. Building permits are a sign of future construction, with a monthly declining hinting at a still weak consumer going into the holiday season.

With the decline in construction data, traders shrugged off a Labour Department report that showed US consumer prices continued to rise at a moderate pace in October, indicating a slow economic recovery is keeping inflation contained. Given commodities prices have gained steadily in recent weeks, including a move higher to start Wednesday's session, the data wasn't able to stave off recent concerns about inflation. Notably, commodities are often bought by investors during periods of high inflation.

"This possible downturn in the (construction) numbers doesn't surprise me," said Andrew Neale, portfolio manager wealth-management and advisory firm Fogel Neale Partners. "It's going to be very difficult to persuade homeowners to buy new homes when you've got such discounted existing inventory."

To go along with the rise in commodities prices on Wednesday, oil futures recently traded up 54 cents to $79.68 a barrel, the dollar fell against both the euro and the yen in early trading.

When the local market closed, the DJIA had weakened 0.61 percent.

Among equity movers on the JSE, Anglo American plc was down 3.11 rand to 324.89 rand and BHP Billiton eased 13 cents to 232 rand.

Petrochemicals group Sasol collected 70 cents to 295.50 rand.

Paper group Sappi rose 1.10 rand, or 3.79 percent, to 30.10 rand while rival Mondi was down 65 cents, or 1.51 percent, to 42.35 rand.

ArcelorMittal lost 2.31 rand, or 2.08 percent, to 109 rand and Kumba Iron Ore was off 1.38 rand to 257.62 rand.

AngloGold Ashanti added 1.90 rand to 336 rand and Harmony collected 40 cents to 80.78 rand, but Gold Fields was down 1.70 rand, or 1.56 percent, to 107.05 rand.

Platinum miner Anglo Platinum fell 7.88 rand, or 1.11 percent, to 702.12 rand and Lonmin put on 4.01 rand, or 1.89 percent, to 216.01 rand, but Impala Platinum declined 1.60 rand to 170.50 rand.

In diversified miners, African Rainbow gave up 4.31 rand, or 2.58 percent, to 162.69 rand, but Exxaro was up 1.55 rand, or 1.65 percent, to 95.65 rand.

Among industrials on the JSE, brewer SABMiller lost 2.24 rand, or 1.07 percent, to 207.66 rand, Barloworld was up 2.20 rand, or 4.26 percent, to 53.80 rand and Imperial rose 1.48 rand, or 1.80 percent, to 83.54 rand.

Banker Nedbank lost 1.33 rand, or 1.13 percent, to 116.17 rand and Absa weakened 61 cents to 127.84 rand.

Sanlam gave up 51 cents, or 2.29 percent, to 21.73 rand.

Sugar group Illovo was off 52 cents, or 1.60 percent, to 32 rand.

Media group Caxton weakened 87 cents, or 5.44 percent, to 15.13 rand but Naspers gained 10.85 rand, or 3.84 percent, to 293.75 rand.

Retailer Woolies was 18 cents, or 1.04 percent, to 17.50 rand but Truworths gave up 70 cents, or 1.63 percent, to 42.30 rand, Foschini lost 1.68 rand, or 2.87 percent, to 56.80 rand and Mr Price lost 36 cents, or 1.08 percent, to 33.04 rand.

Construction group Murray & Roberts was down one rand, or 1.79 percent, to 54.80 rand, but Basil Read edged up 19 cents, or 1.24 percent, to 15.49 rand.

Telecommunications groups, MTN Group weakened 68 cents to 119.10 rand but Telkom collected 25 cents to 40.25 rand and Vodacom put on 1.75 rand, or 3.13 percent, to 57.60 rand.

Reunert added 1.95 rand, or 3.74 percent, to 54.02 rand. The electronics and electrical engineering company earlier reported that its full year diluted headline earnings per share were flat at 646.1 cents from last year's 648.7 cents.

Releasing its annual results for the year to end September 2009, Reunert declared a cash dividend of 188 cents a share. This is lower than last year's dividend of 241 cents a share.

Revenue declined by 6 percent to R10.3-billion from R10.9-billion and operating profit fell 28 percent to R1.1-billion from R1.6-billion a year ago.

Headline earnings were unchanged at 1.2 billion rand while normalised earnings declined by 21 percent to 892 million rand.

International IT company Dimension Data was up 60 cents, or 6.40 percent, to 9.98 rand. It earlier reported revenue of US$3.973-billion for the year ended September 2009 from $4.511-billion a year ago. Revenue was 0.4 percent higher in constant currency, it said.

Operating profit was up 25.4 percent in constant currency to $194.4-million.

The group's diluted headline earnings per share rose to 7.6 US cents from 6.8 cents before, while earnings per share amounted to 8.0 cents from 7.7 cents.