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Johannesburg - The JSE opened sharply lower on Thursday, following wobbly world equities and picking up from where it left off yesterday.
The strong rand added downward pressure on mining shares and other export-oriented counters, a trader said.
By 09:25 local time, the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index was down 1.31%, with resources falling 1.84%, platinum miners easing 2.04% and gold miners dropping 1.77%. Industrials shed 1.00%, financials were 0.88% lower and banks slid 0.86%.
The rand was last bid at R6.80 to the dollar from R6.76 at the JSE's close on Wednesday. Gold was quoted at $1 540.27 a troy ounce from $1 545.22/oz at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was at $1 818.50/oz, from $1 832/oz previously.
The trader said the markets were weaker on the back of disappointing US economic data.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that Asian stock markets tumbled on Thursday on heightened concerns about the global economic outlook, while political woes in Japan added to the selling in the Tokyo market.
"Global growth worries led by the US have now surpassed Greek and eurozone peripheral country concerns as the main driver of risk aversion," said Credit Agricole in a note to clients.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was down 1.6%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was off 2.2%, South Korea's Kospi Composite lost 1.2%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 1.6% and China's Shanghai Composite fell 2.0%.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were off 12 points in screen trade.
Regional sentiment was knocked hard after the Dow Jones industrial average lost 279.65 points, or 2.2%, on Wednesday.
Wall Street's sharp drop on Wednesday was triggered by worries about the US economic recovery after several pieces of weak data, including a softer-than-expected ADP private sector job growth report and an Institute for Supply Management report showing the manufacturing sector slowing sharply in May.
The strong rand added downward pressure on mining shares and other export-oriented counters, a trader said.
By 09:25 local time, the JSE All Share [JSE:J203] index was down 1.31%, with resources falling 1.84%, platinum miners easing 2.04% and gold miners dropping 1.77%. Industrials shed 1.00%, financials were 0.88% lower and banks slid 0.86%.
The rand was last bid at R6.80 to the dollar from R6.76 at the JSE's close on Wednesday. Gold was quoted at $1 540.27 a troy ounce from $1 545.22/oz at the JSE's previous close, while platinum was at $1 818.50/oz, from $1 832/oz previously.
The trader said the markets were weaker on the back of disappointing US economic data.
Dow Jones Newswires reported that Asian stock markets tumbled on Thursday on heightened concerns about the global economic outlook, while political woes in Japan added to the selling in the Tokyo market.
"Global growth worries led by the US have now surpassed Greek and eurozone peripheral country concerns as the main driver of risk aversion," said Credit Agricole in a note to clients.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was down 1.6%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was off 2.2%, South Korea's Kospi Composite lost 1.2%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 1.6% and China's Shanghai Composite fell 2.0%.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were off 12 points in screen trade.
Regional sentiment was knocked hard after the Dow Jones industrial average lost 279.65 points, or 2.2%, on Wednesday.
Wall Street's sharp drop on Wednesday was triggered by worries about the US economic recovery after several pieces of weak data, including a softer-than-expected ADP private sector job growth report and an Institute for Supply Management report showing the manufacturing sector slowing sharply in May.
