TUESDAY, 6.00PM
INDUSTRIAL shares on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange continued their slide on Tuesday, with the industrial index losing 59 points to 7 807. The financial index shed 7 points to 9 935, while the gold index gained a mere 3 points to 812. The all share index showed a loss of 18 points at 6 379.
The R150 long government bond closed 8 basis points better 14,23%. The rand was at R4,8485 to the dollar.
In Tokyo the Nikkei index weathered its second biggest fall of the year in the wake of the Yamaichi collapse, while the dollar leapt to its highest level against the yen in over five years. The Nikkei lost a whopping 854,53 points or 5,11% to close on 15 868. Japanese markets were closed on Monday when the Yamaichi closure was announced.
TUESDAY, 10.00AM
THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange ended Monday’s trade with only minor losses amid worldwide market nervousness following the collapse of giant Japanese securities firm Yamaichi.
The all share index ended the day nine points down at 6 397, helped by a firmer bullion price, which pushed the gold index up 24 points to 809. Industrials, however, lost nearly 73 points to close at 7 866. Wall Street, too, did not go unscathed, with the Dow Jones industrial average losing 113 points to close at 7 767.
Other emerging markets did not fare so well, with the South Korean stock exchange plummeting 7,2% to a new 10-year low, and Brazil’s losing 3,7%.
The collapse of Yamaichi Securities, Japan’s fourth-largest brokerage, has revived fears of a global market meltdown, with concerns at the health of Japan’s financial system and the possible effects of the collapse on neighbouring markets.