South African stocks remained well in the red at noon on Tuesday following losses in overseas markets, with gains restricted to gold miners on a firmer bullion price, traders said.
By 12.06pm, the all-share index was down 1,62%. Resources fell 2,44% and the platinum mining index tumbled 3,58%, but the gold mining index added 1,01%.
Banks lost 0,03%, financials weakened 0,38% and industrials were down 0,72%.
The rand was bid at R7,63 to the dollar from R7,64 when the JSE closed on Monday, while gold was quoted at $982,42 a troy ounce from US$973,45/oz at the JSE’s last close.
“It’s just an onslaught of bad news. The market remains sceptical and that is the reason why the guys did not respond to plans to help Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae,” one trader said.
United States financial authorities announced steps at the weekend to keep troubled mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae capitalised.
In London, the FTSE 100 index was down 1,20%, the Paris CAC 40 Index was 1,04% weaker and German Dax Index was 1,77% lower following losses in Asia and the US on renewed concerns about the health of the US banking sector.
However, gold miners bucked the weaker trend on the local bourse, gaining mainly on the back of the firmer bullion price, which was being buoyed by ongoing concerns in the US financial system and the weakening dollar against the euro, traders said.
“The current market conditions will continue to support gold as an alternative investment asset and some guys are already talking about a high of $1 000/oz,” another trader said.
In reaction, shares in Anglogold Ashanti rose R4,50, or 1,75%, to R261 and Gold Fields added 90 cents to R97,90. Harmony inched down 41 cents to R94,34 on news that 7 800 workers at its Free State mines had downed tools in protest over safety issues.
On the resource index, Anglo American fell R13,50, or 2,98%, to R439 and BHP Billiton tumbled eight rand, or 3,01%, to R257,50.
Sasol gave up R6,50, or 1,48%, to R431,50 despite the price of crude oil notching up 0,78% from its overnight close to $145,04 per barrel.
Among platinum miners, AngloPlat dropped R46, or 3,91%, to R1 130 and Implats skid R9,50, or 3,43%, to R267,50. Platinum was last at $2 013,50/oz, down slightly from its overnight close of $2 017/oz.
Elsewhere, industrial heavyweight Barloworld fell R1,68, or 2,53%, to R64,82, luxury-goods group Richemont was 65 cents, or R1,60, lower at R39,95 and brewer SABMiller shed 20 cents to R159,80.
Banks were mixed with Standard up 10 cents to R75 while Nedbank lost 83 cents to R86,67.
Telkom gained 95 cents to R131,95. It said earlier talks regarding the sale of a portion of its stake in Vodacom to United Kingdom-based Vodafone Group were ongoing. Independently, talks with a Mvelapanda Holdings-led consortium regarding an offer to buy the whole of Telkom were also still ongoing.
IT group Datatec was 43 cents weaker at R23,17. It said earlier that trading for the first quarter has been strong, considering overall economic conditions. This is being underpinned by the broad diversity of the group’s revenue sources in terms of geography, technology and operations
Revenues are expected to exceed $2,2-billion for the six months to the end of August 2008, compared with $1,9-billion for the six months ended August 2007. — I-Net Bridge