Johannesburg - The JSE closed in the red on Wednesday on
the back of sharply lower US markets, as market traders were uncertain and still nervous about taking any action in a volatile market. Gold stocks however remained the safe haven in the market, and gained close to ten percent by the time the JSE
closed.
"It's really not looking good for the market now. Financials have taken a knock, but gold stocks are the safe haven in the market at the moment," a local trader said.
"There is still a lot of nervousness in the market and no one knows what is going to happen," said the trader.
At 17:00, the all share index, which lost more than 600 points, was 2.62% lower. Resources were down 2.22%, gold stocks jumped 9.93%, while platinum stocks gained 2.09%.
Industrials were down 2.85% and financials lost 3.13%, while banks were down 4.11%.
The rand was bid at R8.19/$, unchanged from when the JSE closed on Tuesday, while gold was last quoted at US$828.35 a troy ounce from US$781.75 at the JSE's last close.
Platinum was trading at US$1 088/oz, from a previous close of US$1 049/oz.
Brent crude was at US$91.00 per barrel, slightly down from its previous close of US$89.22 per barrel.
Dow Jones Newswires reports that US stocks fell sharply on Wednesday after two wild sessions as equities gave a clear response to the government takeover of insurance giant American International Group: This financial crisis is not over yet. The alacrity with which the contagion of failures has spread through Wall Street and the financial world has left traders and money managers reeling. The Federal Reserve, just days after ruling out a similar bailout of Lehman Brothers
Holdings, said that a "disorderly failure of AIG could add to already significant levels of financial market fragility."
In local markets, Anglo American (AGL) fell R15.80, or 4.79%, to R314.20, while BHP Billiton (BIL) was down R9.99, or 4.90%, to R194.
Sasol (SOL) gave up R11.50, or 3.44%, to R322.50.
Among gold miners AngloGold Ashanti (ANG) gained R15.20, or 8.09%, to R203, Gold Fields (GFI) added R7.80, or 12.80%, to R68.75 and Harmony (HAR) increased by R8.01, or 12.71% to R71.01.
Platinum miner Anglo Platinum (AMS) gained R17.50, or 2.14%, to 837 rand, Lonmin (LON) was up R4.84, or 1.26%, to R388.78, Impala Platinum (IMP) gained R4.15, or 2.40%, to R177.15 while Aquarius (AQP) lost R5.49, or 10.26%, to R48.
Among other miners African Rainbow (ARI) was up two rand, or 1.04%, to R195, Kumba Iron Ore (KIO) gained R1.35 to R201 and
Exxaro (EXX) was down R2.01, or 2.18%, to R89.99.
Elsewhere in local markets, Old Mutual plc (OML) lost 40c, or 3.17%, to R12.20 and Samlam (SLM) fell 70c, or 3.95%, to R17.01.
Among banks, Standard Bank (SBK) gave up R4.69, or 5.35% to R82.98, Absa (ASA) lost R1.99, or 1.90% to R103, Nedbank (NED) fell R2.50, or 2.62%, to R93, while First Rand (FSR) gave up 44c, or 2.71%, to R15.81.
- I-Net Bridge