The JSE was sharply weaker just after noon on Thursday as a series of explosions in London rocked world markets. Trade was brisk — over two billion rand worth of shares had changed hands.
By 12.14pm, the all share index was down 2,05%. Industrials and financials slid 2,26% and 2,1% respectively. Resources retreated 1,83% and the platinum mining index dropped 2,51%, while the banks index lost 1,47%. The gold mining index leaped 2,57%, however, as investors were attracted to the yellow metal’s safe haven status.
The rand was bid at 6,79 per dollar from 6,81 when the JSE closed on Wednesday, while gold was quoted at $428,05 a troy ounce from $423,75/oz at the JSE’s last close.
“The bomb blasts in London have been driving us down,” a dealer said.
“The only light at the end of the tunnel is Sasol, although it is coming off, and gold shares which are better because the gold price is up.”
He added that all world markets had fallen sharply in the wake of the blasts, which rekindled terrorism fears.
“We are going to have to see what transpires out of this story, but it is having an impact on trading as well. We get our feed from London and there has been a lot of trade there after the blasts. Our feed has slowed down and we are having difficulty trading because the prices are not correct,” the dealer commented.
On the JSE’s downside, London-listed Anglo American slumped 3,54% or R5,60 to R152,55 and BHP Billiton slid 3,43% or R3,10 to R87,20.
AngloPlat slumped 3,43% or R10 to R292 and Impala was down 1,35% or eight rand to R586.
Kumba was down 4,15% or R2,60 at R57,80.
Swiss-listed luxury goods group Richemont plunged 4,04% or 91 cents to R21,60.
Richemont tends to be hard hit by terrorism as this affects international travel — a lot of luxury goods sales take place at airports.
London-listed brewer SABMiller dropped 3,32% or R3,50 to R101,80 and pulp and paper producer Sappi shed 2,98% or R2,15 to R70.
MTN Group gave up 2,75% or R1,23 to R43,50.
On the financial front, Sanlam was 2,55% or 30 cents lower at R11,45 and London-listed Old Mutual fell 3,28% or 48 cents to R14,15.
Standard Bank weakened 1,83% or R1,19 to R63,80, FirstRand slipped 1,72% or 24 cents to R13,68 and Nedbank was 1,06% or 80 cents in the red at R74,50.
On the market’s upside, Sasol was one rand stronger at R189,50 after reaching a record high of R193,50 earlier in the morning.
Sasol was helped by the higher oil price and a positive trading statement on Wednesday in which it said that its rand attributable earnings and earnings per share for the group’s 2005 year were expected to be between 55% and 60% higher than those achieved in the previous financial year.
Gold miner Gold Fields gained 3,23% or R2,50 to R80, Harmony rose 2,92% or R1,70 to R60 and AngloGold Ashanti advanced 2,02% or R4,98 to R250,99.
Northam Platinum was up 1,57% or 20 cents to R12,90. Its intraday high of R13 was its strongest since January last year.
Media group Caxton bounced 6,06% or 60 cents to R10,50 rand. – I-Net Bridge