Johannesburg - The negative effect of the strong dollar on commodity prices was again evident on Tuesday morning, and gold and platinum shares in particular continued the sharp downward move of the past few days on the JSE.
Since the gold price started to lose ground as gold is no longer regarded as a safe haven when the dollar is very strong, some of the big gold shares on the JSE lost almost a fifth of their value in only seven days.
READ: Gold loses safe haven appeal
And the picture does not look much better among platinum shares where Lonmin [JSE:LON] is the biggest loser, falling 18.35% over the last seven days.
The result was that the All-share index on the JSE, which was still flirting with record levels on Friday, was lower for the second consecutive day on Tuesday morning.
By midday on Tuesday the All-share index lost 0.51% to 52 345 points while the Top 40-index traded 0.53% lower at 46 397 points. The Financial index was 0.47% lower and the Industrial index lost 0.21%, but the Resources index slipped 1.51%.
Attention is focused on resources prices where gold - which recently traded above R1 200 per ounce - lost another 0.7% to trade at only R1 158.70. The platinum price was another 1.33% lower at R1 134.75. The price of Brent crude lost another 1.43% and is now again solidly below $60 per barrel, trading at $57.73 at midday.