OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 5.00pm.
THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange fell to five-month lows on Thursday, led by a selloff in technology stocks following sustained losses on the US tech-rich Nasdaq composite index.
By late afternoon the benchmark All Share index was down 3,18% at 7386, a level last reached in mid-November, with losses across the board. The industrial index slumped 4,04% to 8377 as continuing volatility on US markets sidelined local institutional investors.
Among the day’s top losers, shares in Datatec, the country’s second largest information technology company, tumbled 33,07% to R67,50, its woes worsened by market talk that its year earnings could be disappointing.
Dealers saw slim volumes going through the market as local institutions took to the sidelines, spooked by continued volatility in US markets. ”Wall Street is always the overriding factor here and the fact that it was unable to withstand the pressure on the Nasdaq it’s taking our market down with it,” said Andile Mazwai, an equity trader at Barnard Jacobs Mellet.
– Reuters