Basket-selling by futures players on Tuesday acted in tandem with lower precious metal prices to send the JSE Securities Exchange (JSE) deep into the red by noon. Decliners outnumbered advancers on the all-share index by about two to one.
By 11.56am, the all-share index weakened 1,1%. Resources slumped 2,37%, the gold mining index plummeted 3,71% and the platinum mining index plunged 1,95%. Industrials slipped 0,39%, while the financial (-0,09%) and banks (-0,07%) indices were flat.
The rand was quoted at R6,21 per dollar from R6,20 when the JSE closed on Monday, while gold was quoted at $396,13 an ounce from $402,55/oz at the JSE’s last close, Platinum was quoted at $775/oz from $787/oz when the bourse closed previously.
“The market is not looking good. The futures guys are killing it. There has been big futures-related selling of stock all morning and this is the main reason for the weakness in the Top 40,” a dealer said.
He added that the relatively strong rand was not helping, although the currency had weakened from its best levels seen earlier in the morning of about R6,16 per dollar and from its best level for 2004 of R6,14 per dollar seen on Monday afternoon.
“The gold and platinum prices are lower and gold and platinum stocks were hammered in New York last night,” he commented.
In morning trade, London-listed diversified resources group Anglo American tumbled 2,53% or R3,30 to R127,10 and BHP Billiton lost 1,75% or 95 cents to R53,30.
AngloGold Ashanti slid 2,47% or R4,99 to R197 after earlier trading as low as R192,05, its worst level since May last year.
Gold Fields surrendered 4,37% or R2,99 to R65,50. Its low for the morning of R64,01 was its weakest level since January 2002.
Harmony weakened 4,87% or R3,33 to R65.
Impala Platinum lost 1,75% or 95 cents to R450, AngloPlat tumbled 2,54% or six rand to R230 and oil and chemicals group Sasol lost 1,84% or R1,81 to R96,70.
On the industrial market, Swiss-listed luxury goods group Richemont was 1,1% or 18 cents in the red at R16,22.
Media group Naspers dropped 2,15% or 99 cents to R45,01.
Naspers earlier reported a turnaround in headline earnings per share to 302 cents per N share for the year ended March 31 from a loss of 13 cents a year ago.
However, Naspers was cautious in its outlook, saying that while all its businesses fired on all cylinders over the past year, this is a rare occurrence for a group that spans multiple media platforms across many different economies. Expenditure on new developments over the past year was lower than usual, which provided a further lift to short-term earnings.
Headline earnings were also artificially boosted by prescribed accounting entries, it said. It warned that many of these factors are unlikely to recur and that shareholders should bear this in mind when projecting expectations of headline earnings.
Pulp and paper producer Sappi was 70 cents softer at R93,30 and London-listed beverages group SABMiller dipped 20 cents to R79,60.
Telecoms group Telkom surrendered 50 cents to R79,30 and steel producer Iscor was 1,31% or fifty cents softer at R37,70.
Financials to fall included banking group FirstRand, which eased eight cents to R10, and Nedcor, which weakened 50 cents to R62,50.
Absa was 50 cents in the red at R49,80.
Financial services group Sanlam slipped seven cents to R8,77 and Liberty Group lost 1,17% or 60 cents to R50,90.
Health and life insurer Discovery dived 5,06% or 64 cents to R12,01.
On the JSE’s upside, Standard Bank strengthened 18 cents to R42,35 and RMB Holdings climbed 11 cents to R15,98.
Services group Bidvest was 20 cents better at R52, packaging group Nampak picked up eight cents to R14,10 and transport and logistics group Imperial jumped 1,02% or 70 cents to R69. — I-Net Bridge