WEDNESDAY, 12.30PM
A BARRAGE of negative factors ground down the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on Tuesday, with the declining all share and industrial indices ending off their lows. Analysts were emphatic that fundamentals were sound, but that a heavy sell-off in the futures market spooked investors.
At the close, the all gold index had fallen 24,1 points to 873,2, a 54-month low. Industrials managed to regain 50 points, ending 89 points down at 8 657,1, while the all share index fell 97,6 points to 7 057,8. Volume was R852-million, with losers outnumbering gainers by 311 to 62, and 127 shares unchanged.
Dealers said the “Freddy Factor” pushed the overall index to a new three-and-a-half month low. They were referring to Fred Crookes, a retired businessman who conducts independent stock market research and technical analysis. Crookes said on national radio stations that Fibonacci numbers show the market will crash on October 19, the 10th anniversary of the 1987 Wall Street crash. “We had some private clients panicking. Quite a few liquidated their positions,” said one dealer.
Comments by Reserve Bank governor Chris Stals at the IMF and World Bank meetings in Hong Kong on retaining interest rate levels, also depressed the market.